"...Huh?"
Silas nearly bent over from how absurd the shopkeeper's sudden statement was. A disbelieving sound slipped from his mouth.
"What do you mean 'huh'?" the shopkeeper replied lazily. "Running a shop isn't easy nowadays. Charging a small information fee for intel isn't unreasonable, right?"
It really wasn't unreasonable.
Silas subconsciously followed the shopkeeper's logic for a moment.
But he quickly snapped out of it.
"How many people have bought this information?" Silas asked, speechless.
"Hmm… about five or six hundred?"
The shopkeeper thought for a moment and gave a number that almost made Silas cough blood.
Silas closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them again with a calm, emotionless look.
He really shouldn't have expected anything from information displayed openly on the wall like this.
"I'll take this fishing rod. How much is it?"
He no longer bothered with the map. Instead, he tested the rod with a few practice swings, feeling its weight and flexibility. It felt excellent, so he asked the shopkeeper for the price.
"Ten thousand. No bargaining."
The shopkeeper quoted a price that was slightly higher than normal.
Silas frowned. He wasn't the type to let himself get ripped off. Even for a high-quality rod, the price was still on the hefty side.
"But I can include the info about the island for free. Consider it a bonus for buying the rod."
A sly grin appeared on the shopkeeper's face.
Silas almost laughed from frustration at the middle-aged man in front of him. But after thinking it over, he agreed decisively.
That mysterious island on the water—one that didn't appear on any normal map was indeed extremely tempting.
Or rather, it was tempting for any Pokémon Trainer.
No wonder the other trainers who had bought the information shared his mindset.
Scam?
Silas doubted he had to worry about that.
Even if it were a scam, he wasn't losing much.
"Would you like to pay with your Pokégear, cash, or Trainer Card?"
As he boxed up the fishing rod, the shopkeeper skillfully asked the routine question.
Silas pulled out his Trainer Card, signaling card payment.
"By the way, shopkeeper, do you have any of those special-grade rods?"
While paying, Silas threw another question at him.
He trusted the quality of everything in this fishing shop.
On one hand, Nurse Joy wouldn't deceive him.
On the other, the shopkeeper had taken just one quick glance at him earlier and immediately picked out a rod that suited him perfectly. That alone showed considerable expertise—never mind the impressive rods hanging on the walls.
"Oh? Looks like you've done your homework."
The shopkeeper quickly finished receiving the payment, teasing him a little.
"I do have one… but I doubt you'd be willing to buy it."
He didn't say Silas couldn't afford it—because as a Johto native living near Kanto, he easily recognized Silas's identity. Any trainer from Johto or Kanto would know about Kanto's young rising genius.
A powerful young Trainer like Silas obviously wasn't short on money.
But money aside, fishing rods weren't exactly crucial equipment.
From the shopkeeper's perspective, it was unlikely that Silas would spend a fortune on a "special-grade" rod.
A Trainer's money was better spent on raising their Pokémon.
Fishing rods were typically divided into three grades, not too different from the rods Silas had seen in the Pokémon games of his previous world:
Old Rod → Good Rod → Super Rod
The first two were cheap for most people. Even the high-quality Good Rod Silas just bought was only barely reaching the five-digit Poké Dollar range.
Super Rods were more expensive, usually ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 Poké Dollars.
Of course, the primary buyers of Good and Super Rods were Trainers.
Ordinary families raising Pokémon as pets usually just needed a cheap Old Rod to enjoy the hobby of fishing.
And surprisingly, many ordinary people actually made a living off this.
For example, when a Trainer with poor fishing skills wanted to catch a Water-type Pokémon but couldn't hook anything even with a Good Rod or Super Rod—
They would often hire skilled local fishers instead.
The ordinary person handled the fishing, and the Trainer handled the catching.
One earned money; the other earned a Pokémon.
A win–win arrangement.
Technically, according to the Pokémon League's laws, this could be considered an illegal Pokémon transaction.
However, the League didn't strictly enforce it.
After all, rephrased, it could be viewed as an ordinary person requesting a Trainer's protection and during that process, the Trainer capturing a Pokémon they happened to encounter was perfectly normal.
More importantly, Trainers were human too. Their time and energy were limited.
If they had to excel both at training Pokémon and at fishing, many would burn out.
Banning such interactions would eliminate the livelihoods of many people.
Worse, it would restrict Trainers from expanding their Pokémon variety.
Even worse, banning one such profession would mean banning countless others created because of Pokémon.
For the League, that was unacceptable—a slow suicide.
So even if the black market had been "shut down" publicly, underground Pokémon trading still existed.
It was just more troublesome now.
Back to fishing rods.
Besides the three common grades, there was a fourth—an extremely rare and precious type, Special-Grade Rods.
Why rare and precious?
Because their materials were made from held items—actual battle-enhancing items used by Pokémon.
Yes, those held items.
For example:
Big Root → used for the rod itself
Grip Claw → used for the hook
Destiny Knot → used for the fishing line
Each still retained its original in-battle effects, applied to fishing.
Not hard to imagine how powerful that could be.
Normally, as long as even one part of the rod was made from a held item, it was classified as a Special-Grade Rod.
Up until now, no one had ever created a rod with all three parts made from held items.
Not only because of cost, but because the craftsmanship required was extreme.
Modifying a single held item consumed enormous effort. Using multiple, while also managing the interactions between them, was far beyond simple.
Machines couldn't handle the process.
Everything had to be handcrafted.
Just like the world's best Poké Balls weren't made by Silph Co. or Devon Corp.—
but by the legendary craftsman Kurt of Azalea Town.
According to Kurt, even Silph's head of research was "a talentless son."
With all this combined, Special-Grade Rods became truly astronomical in price—millions or even tens of millions of Poké Dollars.
"I've got one here made from a Big Root. If you want it, I can give you a discount—take it for nine million."
That familiar—and painfully predatory—smile reappeared on the shopkeeper's face.
"Nope! No thank you!"
Silas quickly waved his hands and stuffed his newly bought rod into his space backpack, sprinting straight out the door.
"Hey! If you're not buying, how about just taking a look? Only 1,000 Poké Dollars to examine it! Or maybe check out some premium fishing bait?"
The shopkeeper's warm voice echoed behind him.
Silas could still hear him, but he pretended not to.
He wasn't some fool. Why would he pay money just to look at a fishing rod?
Buying it was even more impossible. He wasn't insane.
Besides, as a Breeder, if he couldn't even make basic bait, he might as well quit.
Still, the fact that the shopkeeper had a Special-Grade Rod made from Big Root and was willing to sell it surprised Silas.
It meant he probably had an even better one.
Otherwise, as a veteran angler, he wouldn't leave such a top-tier rod unused.
Better than a pure Big Root rod…
Silas thought about it.
The only possibility left was, a rod made from two different held items.
After all, among the three potential materials, Big Root was not only the hardest to use but also yielded the greatest effect once completed.
Hidden experts really appeared everywhere…
Silas sighed inwardly as he headed toward the fishing area.
Yet on his way, he kept feeling like he had forgotten something.
Could his memory be malfunctioning? Silas was baffled.
Ten minutes later.
Silas walked out of the Isle Fishing Shop again, his expression as dark as a storm cloud.
"Come again next time~!"
The shopkeeper squinted his eyes cheerfully as he waved goodbye.
What Silas had forgotten—despite his photographic memory was that the owner of the Isle Fishing Area was the same person as the owner of the Isle Fishing Shop, and thus the entrance ticket had to be purchased at the shop.
In fact, the words were written clearly on the wall behind the shop counter, but thanks to the shopkeeper's overwhelming antics earlier, Silas had subconsciously filtered everything out.
The only blessing was that the entry fee for the fishing area was only 500 Poké Dollar, extremely cheap.
And the shopkeeper hadn't tried to upsell or harass him further, or Silas felt he might really go insane.
"What an amusing kid."
Watching Silas's retreating back, the shopkeeper chuckled softly before turning and heading into the courtyard behind the shop. He lay on a rocking chair and closed his eyes in comfort, the evening breeze brushing past as the sun dipped toward the horizon.
Amusing was amusing, impressive was impressive but he had seen far too many trainers chasing after the isle.
Aside from himself, not one had ever successfully reached it.
Even for him, that luck had only happened once.
At the entrance of the fishing area, Silas handed over his ticket to the guard and was allowed inside.
Fishing Area Notice Board
"Fishing Area No.1 — Primary Pokémon: Tentacool line
Fishing Area No.2 — Primary Pokémon: Krabby line
Fishing Area No.3 — Primary Pokémon: Staryu line
Fishing Area No.4 — Primary Pokémon: Corsola line
Note: All fishing areas contain a large number of Magikarp, so if you spend the entire day catching only Magikarp, please do not complain. It simply means your technique is poor or your luck is bad.
Additional Note: Rumor says there are a few Totodile living somewhere in our fishing area, but no one knows which zone.
Additional Additional Note:
If you want to know which fishing area has the highest chance of Totodile appearing, please turn left after exiting the fishing area and walk 200 meters to the Isle Fishing Shop to ask the shopkeeper~"
Reading the long list of notes, Silas felt an uncanny sense of déjà vu from the last three "additional" statements.
He shook his head quickly, trying to purge the overly social shopkeeper from his thoughts.
"Well then, I'll head to Fishing Area No.3 first."
His reasoning was simple: he didn't like jellyfish or crabs.
Checking the map, Silas chose a direction and started walking.
Fishing areas in the Pokémon world resembled small water-type Pokémon nature reserves. The Pokémon were still wild, but the population distribution was far more predictable than random fishing spots in the wild—at least he didn't have to worry about catching Magikarp exclusively.
"Staryu!"
Silas hummed a tune as he arrived at Fishing Area No.3, located on the western shoreline.
Even though it was already late, plenty of people were still fishing.
Sitting on one of the small stools provided, Silas didn't start fishing immediately. Instead, he took ingredients out from his bag and began making bait.
One Oran Berry, half a Kasib Berry, and a bottle of "special-effect water" supposedly infused overnight with Mystic Water, mixed with ordinary flour.
In less than half a minute, a huge bait ball was completed.
It was a bit crude, but Silas felt it was perfectly fine.
Taking out his rod, he pinched off a piece of bait and officially began his night of fishing.
"Alright, small goal—five, six, seven, maybe eight Staryu this hour, then I'll change spots."
Silas thought casually.
The fishing rod jerked
First catch: Magikarp.
The red-scaled Magikarp kept flopping on the ground, but Silas remained calm.
One Magikarp was normal. An opening catch. Good omen even.
He kicked the Magikarp back into the water and continued.
The rod jerked again
Second catch: Magikarp.
Still normal. Lots of Magikarp live here. Perfectly reasonable.
Third tug
Third catch: Magikarp.
This Magikarp was a bit fast, but Silas kept his cool.
Magikarp.
Magikarp.
Magikarp.
Finally, after a long yet short hour, Silas caught his 73rd Magikarp, and felt as if he himself were turning into one.
Only then did he understand the meaning of that first note on the signboard.
So it was possible to reel in nothing but Magikarp.
"This fishing area is like this," A nearby angler said kindly, having watched Silas go from excited to numb to devastated.
"Probably because so many people fish here every day that the Pokémon have become smarter. Bites are rare."
Normal Pokémon might bite out of hunger, but Staryu had no mouths to begin with. They fed through energy absorption or their red core.
They could only be hooked if curious.
Silas had unknowingly started by challenging the most difficult target.
Gritting his teeth, Silas packed up his bait and rod and headed for Fishing Area No.4—the home of Corsola.
If this spot doesn't work, another one will.
He was wrong.
Goldeen, Magikarp, Magikarp, Goldeen, Magikarp—
Another hour later, Silas—now having caught 22 Goldeen and 58 Magikarp was utterly lost.
Compared to last time, at least the species changed slightly.
But honestly, Goldeen on land was no different from Magikarp at all.
Silas wanted to punch something.
He just wanted to collect some Corsola horns as decoration, to see if they really refracted rainbow colors in sunlight.
Was that a crime?
"The water quality here is quite good,"
A fisherman beside him suggested gently.
"Corsola might just be sleeping at night. Come back tomorrow."
What a waste of such a good rod, the man lamented while holding his shabby Old Rod.
Silas subconsciously gripped his rod tightly.
No. He came here as a fisherman today.
He would not go home empty-handed.
A fisherman never blanks!
Silas roared internally.
Goldeen, Magikarp—it didn't matter.
He refused to accept defeat.
He would not leave without catching at least one Corsola tonight.
Without realizing it, he had raised a massive flag.
Luck did not change simply because a person wanted it to.
Silas was proving that with tremendous clarity.
Over the next three hours, everyone around him witnessed just how unlucky a person could truly be.
"Three hundred eighty-six… Wow."
One bored angler, who had taken it upon himself to count, muttered in awe.
The sign said not to complain about catching only Magikarp but he had never seen someone who caught nothing but Magikarp.
This was a fishing area, not the wild.
The strangest part was that everyone else near Silas had already caught Corsola—everyone except the unluckiest fisherman among them.
"Young people sure have stamina,"
Another fisherman, heavyset and good-natured, reminisced.Reeling in that many Magikarp consumed an absurd amount of energy.
Silas, drowned in single-minded determination, ignored the passing of time.
All he did was cast, reel, bait, and kick away Magikarp.
He refused to believe it.
He would fish until morning if he had to.
He would catch one Corsola.
.....
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