Sunday.
Hilia took her newly bought fishing rod and a small gift, arriving outside the cabin where Mr. Oston lived.
"Good morning, Mr. Oston."
She greeted him, and Oston, who looked up upon hearing her, smiled, "Good morning, Hilia, is there something you need?"
"I've come to thank you for your help last time."
Hilia presented a gift box, inside was a small mechanical gadget she made using leftover materials from making magic puppets, a little mechanical dog.
"Haha, it's rare for someone to visit me, I'll accept this gift."
Seeing Hilia bringing a magic puppet and with a bag on her back, Oston laughed: "Did you really come just to see me?"
Hilia made a face: "Mr. Oston, last time you mentioned that we can fish in the Forbidden Forest Lake, I'd like to apply for a permit to fish there, is that okay?"
"If it's just fishing, of course, but you need to be careful not to go to the west side of the shore."
A flash of light appeared in Oston's hand, manifesting a card formed by magic.
"This is a fishing permit, to use it, approach the spell ring, let it read the information within the card, it will tell you where you can fish, remember you can only fish within the permitted area, leaving the area may lead to danger."
Hilia nodded quickly: "Thank you, Mr. Oston, once I catch some fish, I promise to bring you the two biggest ones."
"Haha, I won't be polite then."
After saying goodbye to Oston, Hilia and Rose, inside the magic puppet, entered the Forbidden Forest boundary, then took out the flying broom and, following the card's direction, flew towards the Forbidden Forest Lake.
Rose didn't have a flying broom, so he directly returned to Hilia's mind, letting her instruct the magic puppet to follow.
Before long, Hilia landed by the Forbidden Forest Lake.
"It's my first time fishing... what do I do?"
Hilia looked at Rose, who returned to the magic puppet.
She had bought all the tools needed, like fishing rods, hooks, lines, bait, etc., yesterday evening, which cost two gold coins, and it was expensive because the Forbidden Forest Lake was a magic lake, so the fish there weren't ordinary fish. Therefore, she also bought an enchanted fishing rod.
Rose wouldn't be interested in fishing ordinary fish.
"First, take out the items, I'll instruct, and you do."
"Okay!"
"There are some fish in this lake suitable for use as transition materials for magic puppets. Our target this time is one of them, the Blue-Scaled Lizard Fish, which is over 2 meters long, and its bones are very suitable for replacing the current spine."
After explaining the fishing target to Hilia, Rose saw her take out various fishing tools and guided her on assembling the fishing rod.
Assembling it was similar yet different from a regular fishing rod; when tying the fishing line, one needs to draw a rune at the knot to prevent it from coming undone.
After about half an hour, Hilia finally managed to complete it. Rose didn't just watch and guide, but also helped prepare the bait on the side.
Rose casually threw a blob of bait into the lake to create a fishing spot, while saying: "Besides the fishing rod, you also need to set up a magic array around the fishing spot to restrain it when it appears."
"Sigh, what's with..."
"This is called creating a fishing spot; without tossing some bait in, how would you attract fish to bite?"
"Oh..."
Hilia didn't quite understand, but since Rose did it this way, he must have his reasons.
After bustling around for another ten minutes, all the preparation work was finally completed. Hilia sat on a small stool, placed the bait, and swung the hook with force.
The fishing line successfully got caught on a nearby tree.
"Ah... it's caught on the tree." The girl innocently looked at Rose.
"No problem."
Rose flicked his fingers, a wind blade appeared, swiftly cutting off the branch entangled with the fishing line.
The second swing of the hook was a success, although a bit far from the fishing spot, it was still okay.
Maybe because she was a beginner, but it wasn't even a minute before she felt a tug on the fishing rod.
"It's biting!" Hilia exclaimed excitedly, beginning a battle of wits with the fish.
Using his Spiritual Power, Rose scanned and realized it was an ordinary fish, so he stopped paying attention.
When the fish was pulled ashore, Hilia smiled, "I knew I was a fishing expert!"
Rose glanced at her, chuckled, not minding, and let her freely fish while he locked his Spiritual Power on the targeted fish.
The targeted fish was a bit distant from the shore here, and using Spiritual Power underwater wasn't as convenient and fast as on land, like entering a muddy swamp.
Fortunately, Rose's Spiritual Power was strong and durable, once he locked onto the Blue-Scaled Lizard Fish, he twisted his Spiritual Power into a thread, stabbing it into the fish's brain, causing intense pain while leaving a provocative wave.
The sudden brain-stabbing pain enraged the Blue-Scaled Lizard Fish, which possessed Tier One Mage powers.
It crazily rolled at the lake bottom, and once the sting from the Spiritual Power impact subsided, it immediately followed the trace Rose deliberately left, rushing up from the lake bottom.
It wanted to see what was 'biting' it!
It wanted to spit water at the opponent!
Unfortunately, when it reached the bait spot, it lost the trace of Rose's Spiritual Power.
Seeing a bit of bait left, it didn't hesitate to surge forward and swallow it all in one bite.
At this moment, Hilia happened to cast the hook, which, under Rose's Spiritual Power guidance, 'coincidentally' slipped into the mouth of the Blue-Scaled Lizard Fish.
"Oh? Did it just take the bait?"
Hilia was startled for a moment, just about to reel it in, when a force from the other end of the fishing line pulled her toward the lake.
As she stumbled forward, Rose grabbed her shoulder from behind and pulled her back.
"Quickly infuse Magic Power into the rod to counterattack the fish."
"Okay!"
Without thinking too much, Hilia infused Magic Power into the rod to tug against the Blue-Scaled Lizard Fish.
After infusing Magic Power into the rod, Hilia felt the force from it seemed to diminish somewhat.
She just managed to keep it afloat.
But soon, she felt her strength was faltering, and her body gradually leaned towards the lake.
"Activate the magic array at the fishing spot," Rose reminded: "Transmit magic power through your feet."
"Huh? Okay."
Hilia wasn't used to transmitting Magic Power through her feet, but at this moment, she didn't have time to think it over.
She didn't even realize Rose had let go of her shoulder and was just watching the girl maneuvering the fish.
A stream of Magic Power flowed from Hilia's toes into the ground, activating the previously set simple magic array.
Hilia felt as if her feet were glued to the ground, with what seemed like a giant rock blocking her from moving any closer to the lake.
"Little fishy, be good and come up!"
Hilia gritted her teeth and gave a strong pull.
Swish!
A sound came from the lake surface as a blue, over 2-meter-long fish was forcibly pulled from the lake into mid-air, falling onto the ground behind her.
The landing net looked like a delicate girl in front of it, so Hilia decisively picked up a nearby rock.
Thunk~!