No, what's pressing on my mind is what the little brown poster represents.
Familiar names are starting to appear. Kid, Bonney, I even overheard Korka submitting a report to Lindbergh through his Den-Den-Mushi about a week ago.
The canon storyline is starting to take root in the periphery of my life...and even though I honestly want no part of it...
I'm starting to wonder just how long I'm going to last before it forcibly sucks me in. Centaurea, Revolutionary Base
I groaned in annoyance as I rolled to the other side of the bed. You ever wake up in the middle of the night and you just know it's not even 5 AM yet?
'Ugghhhh…not now [Game]...I don't need to be up until nine today.' I internally grumble, turning into the pillow and away from the shining yellow notification. I can read it in two or three hours when-
'...wait...yellow?'
I cracked one tired eye open and confirmed that yes, this particular pop-up was in fact not blue. Which made no sense as every single screen the [Game] has ever presented to me has been the same shade of pale cyan.
That wasn't all though.
It was glittering.
Special Event: Counting Your Lucky Stars. Click here to participate.
Time Remaining: 1 Hour, 14 minutes
"What in the world…?" I muttered, slowly rising to sit upright in my bed. I pressed one finger softly to the screen and watched as the image shifted into a picture of an orange shark with dozens of yellow stars patterned across its back.
A niggling voice in the back of my head tried to place where I had seen the creature in canon before but that thought was quickly discarded as the picture shrank down, leaving text in its place.
Special Event: Counting Your Lucky Stars.
Known for their devious and sneaky nature, Star Sharks are a migratory species that naturally inhabit the waters of South and West Blue. They hunt together in large packs in order to take down prey substantially bigger than themselves and though it is rare for them to attack humans, they do possessan annoying habit of overturning fishing boats, causing many seafarers to consider them as terriblenuisances. This reason, combined with their natural star aesthetic, has led to the popular belief that catching one will bring about good fortune.
Event: Catch as many Star Sharks as you can!
Reward: +1 LUK for each Star Shark caught.
Bonus 1: Catch 15 for 5,000 Exp.
Bonus 2: Catch 40 for 10,000 Exp.
Time Remaining: 1 Hour, 13 minutes
"Holy shit..." I muttered in a daze, not quite believing what I was reading. "Holy Shit!" I damn near screamed as I skimmed the text over again. 'Would this have just disappeared if I didn't wake up? WAIT! HAVE I SLEPT THROUGH ONE OF THESE BEFOR-gah! No time to think about it! I've only got an hour and thirteen-'
Time Remaining: 1 Hour, 12 minutes.
I exploded out of my bed. Sheets flying into the air as I rushed outside in nothing but my sleep shorts. I grab clothes from my [Inventory] as I run to the waterfront and a few of the night shift watchmen stare at me in confusion as I pass them. No doubt wondering why one of the hired hunters is trying to put on a shirt while moving at a full sprint.
There's no time for embarrassment. I have LUK points to earn. You know when I first tried putting points in the stat all those months ago and it said my LUK could improve through 'special events and encounters' I hadn't realized the [Game] was being so literal. Iraak, one my fellow passengers on board The Marjhanis sitting by the waters edge watching the orange fish- wait are sharks fish? Most of them don't lay eggs. I feel like you have to lay eggs to be classified a fish. Bah! What am I doing wasting time thinking! There's LUK to farm!
"Oh, good morning Jack. You're not usually up this early." Iraak smiles as he sees my approach. "Mischievous little scamps aren't they?" he muses, gesturing to the school of Star Sharks, some of whom could actually be seen snickering at the plight of a poor seal-like creature that a trio were chasing around in circles.
"They always like to play with their food." Iraak informs me. "They're not that different from us really."
One of the sharks wanders closer to Iraak and I and halfway surfaces, a wide grin of razor sharp teeth spread across its face. "You up to something naughty little guy?" Iraak teases, "You better not be think-
I shot it in the face.
Didn't even hesitate. Just pulled my pistol and blam-o!
"Jack! What the HELL!" Iraak yelped in shock. "I know they're pests but-"
"Yeah yeah lecture me later! Help me pull it in!" I shouted back, reaching into the water to grab the corpse. The leathery skin slapped down onto the wooden planks of the pier and just as I hoped a blue pop-up materialized overhead.
+1 LUK!
LUK (25) → (26)
'Excellent. So I am allowed to kill them first. This would be a lot harder if I had to catch them live.' "Umm..Jack.." Iraak begins.
I raise my head. "Hmm?" I follow his nervous gaze and see dozens of orange sharks glaring daggers at me, some are even growling.
'Huh. Sharks can growl in this world. Who'd have thunk it?'
Today is a great day. No I didn't get the 2nd bonus. Didn't really come close to be honest. After the first five minutes the sharks quickly abandoned the idea of attacking me while I was on the safety of land. 'Though some of them did make some pretty impressive jumps.'
They briefly rallied again when I got a little too cocky and waded down into the thigh-deep water -at which point Iraak really started cursing me out- but not even that could convince the sharks to stick around for long.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do you enjoy reading? Visit my site on Tiendup! There you will find the advanced chapter in PDF format, ready for your convenience.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
https://fictiontopia.tiendup.com/