As a Fisherman, My Fish Can Level Up
Chapter 285 - Chapter 285 Chapter 240 Setting Sail for Australia

Chapter 285: Chapter 240 Setting Sail for Australia Chapter 285: Chapter 240 Setting Sail for Australia [Aquatic Creatures Handbook (Level 3)]

[Current Experience: (0/80)]

[Unlocked Capturing Tools: Hand, Fishing Gear, Harpoon, Shrimp and Crab Cage]

[Maximum Aquatic Creature Level: 50]

[Unlocked Creatures: 1 Mantis Shrimp, 2 Crucian Carps, 3 Whitebaits…]

[Special Abilities: Free Swimming, Affinity Aura of Aquatic Creatures, Hunter’s Blessing]

The changes to the level 3 Aquatic Creatures Handbook were still not significant, with just the addition of a new ability.

Afterward, Chu Mingcheng clicked on this ability to check its specific effects.

[Hunter’s Blessing]

[Ability One: Intimate Companion.]

[Every hunter has a trustworthy companion by their side. When friendly or even intimate aquatic animals appear around the host, they can be instructed to assist the host. (The more intimate the relationship, the more unconditionally they follow the host’s orders.)]

[Ability Two: Danger Identification]

[The hunting process involves many deadly creatures, and the host will gain the ability to identify them. No harmful creature can escape the host’s scrutiny.]

Chu Mingcheng had already experienced the first ability, with three sea lions following his orders to intercept the school of fish as the best proof.

Moreover, it appeared that he would be able to seek assistance from other creatures in the future, as long as they were friendly enough toward him.

Therefore, the three sea lions were still very worthwhile to train, as the more intimate their relationship became, the more obedient they would be.

As for the second ability, it made Chu Mingcheng pensive.

Could it include those coral fish with the Xueka poison, the harmful creatures that couldn’t escape his eyes?

That was his current biggest concern and the ability he needed the most.

If he could identify the Xueka poison, then he could continue hunting these high-value coral fish without having to worry anymore about accidentally capturing Stone Fish with Xueka poison and then causing harm to others and himself.

Previously, he did have the ability of life conversion and detoxification, but Jiang Luoluo falling ill had upset him for a long time.

Fortunately, the situation wasn’t very serious, and she suffered no sequelae.

Otherwise, Chu Mingcheng would undoubtedly regret it for a lifetime since Xueka poison had caused level ten disabilities and after-effects before.

Since he’d gained this important ability, he had to test it out.

Although it was already past four in the afternoon, and he would be late getting back, he’d definitely feel unsettled if he didn’t understand this ability.

The location here was only two nautical miles from Crescent Island, and Chu Mingcheng started the fishing boat; in just a moment, he arrived at the coral area of the little island.

He had just taken a bath and changed out of his diving suit, but now he couldn’t be bothered with the hassle.

Chu Mingcheng stripped down to his bare skin, wearing only a pair of boxer shorts.

His robust figure was fully exposed to the air, though there was no one to admire it.

He went directly to the rear deck door and jumped into the water, then swam toward the bottom of the coral reef.

Arriving at the coral reef area, it wasn’t feeding time yet, so most of the fish were still hiding.

Some small fish were above the corals, but he didn’t notice anything unusual.

Just then, a lovable little fatty flapped its short fins and swam past in front of him.

It was a pufferfish, with its round, bulging eyes looking somewhat adorable.

But Chu Mingcheng noticed that its belly and gonad area were emitting a rich green color.

This should be a Dotted Porcupinefish, and it was quite large, measuring about fifty to sixty centimeters in length.

Chu Mingcheng was not here for fishing; encountering such a large pufferfish, he immediately swam over to it.

The pufferfish sensed a large creature approaching and immediately fled.

But the next moment, a hand smacked it, causing it to tumble several times in the water.

The pufferfish, realizing it couldn’t escape, immediately puffed up its belly, seemingly quite angry from being hit.

In just a short while, it turned into a ball, the size of a household pot.

Chu Mingcheng was just teasing it initially, but when it puffed up, he saw that despite the belly being swollen, the inside still had a greenish tinge.

Knowing that a pufferfish’s innards were toxic, he now understood the function of his new ability.

Was it telling him that the creature in front of him had deadly toxins in its innards and gonads?

Chu Mingcheng immediately lost the mood to tease the pufferfish any further; he decided to observe other creatures instead.

After a short while, he encountered a sea snake, and its teeth and venom sacs appeared green in his sight.

When he tried to turn off the new ability, the green color disappeared.

Then, he saw green at the fin area on the back of a Grouper, and some cleaner crabs crawling on the coral also revealed toxins inside them.

Seeing these naturally toxic creatures, Chu Mingcheng wasn’t surprised to find the concentration of their toxins, as he recognized most marine creatures in domestic waters, making this ability seem somewhat superfluous. However, the new ability was still quite useful.

Going abroad where he wasn’t familiar with the aquatic creatures, the ability would be extremely valuable.

Nevertheless, these were not the main points. The Xueka poison wasn’t visible on the surface, so this new ability had to detect the Xueka poison for it to be the biggest help to him at this stage.

He saw quite a few Groupers and coral fish, but didn’t discover anything special about them.

This also let him know that the proportion of coral fish with Xueka poison was rather low; otherwise, with the many coral fish he had hunted, an accident would have happened long ago.

After wandering around for a while, an East Star Grouper, estimated to weigh over ten kilograms, appeared before him.

Chu Mingcheng’s eyes lit up as he finally discovered a Stone Fish carrying toxins.

The green color was most intense on the head and belly of the fish, its body also shimmering with a hint of green, indicating that its flesh was poisonous too, albeit less so.

When Chu Mingcheng turned off his danger recognition ability, the East Starfish regained its beautiful appearance.

When the function was activated, there was no part of the fish that could be eaten except for the fins.

The Tetrodotoxin was primarily concentrated in the fish’s viscera and head, it seemed that this East Starfish was a carrier of the toxin.

Now that he understood some uses of his new ability, Chu Mingcheng felt reassured and returned to the boat.

However, he was still curious about what creatures that were dangerous but not poisonous would look like through this function.

He would make sure to activate this function to check when he encountered such creatures in the future.

The three sea lions were quick to act, and the fish weighing seventy to eighty pounds were cleanly devoured, leaving only some blood and bits of flesh on the deck.

Chu Mingcheng immediately ordered the sea lions to disembark and rest on the island, then rinsed off the deck with water before heading back to take another shower.

It was getting late, and he didn’t delay any longer, steering the boat back home.

As he approached the dock, Chu Mingcheng contacted the buyer, only to find that no one in the group was interested in the Red Sea Bream.

The main reason was that the fish was too common; customers in Wen City didn’t need it and it wasn’t worth the extra shipping cost.

Some restaurants in Xia City only wanted to buy small amounts, about thirty to fifty pounds, which sounded like they were doing him a favor by placing orders, and he would even have to deliver it.

Therefore, after Chu Mingcheng returned to the dock, he simply decided to sell to the fishmongers directly. Forget those favors!

In the future, when he had good quality seafood, he would see if he would give these restaurants any favors. They didn’t even have the courtesy to offer a polite refusal, and they deserved their business going downhill.

The one thousand three hundred seventy-two pounds of fish were bought by three fishmongers, at eighteen yuan per pound, selling for a total of over twenty-four thousand yuan.

It was just a bit more than what he got for the Rat Spot, yet he had worked hard all afternoon.

Indeed, high-quality aquatic products were more lucrative. Now with his new ability, he wasn’t afraid of Tetrodotoxin and the like anymore.

At home, Jiang Luoluo saw Chu Mingcheng return and hurriedly heated up the dinner.

According to her understanding of this man, there was a good chance he hadn’t eaten tonight.

But even if he had eaten already, it wouldn’t be a problem. It could be a late-night snack.

“Luoluo, how did the yacht license exam go,” Chu Mingcheng asked while eating dinner.

The drone exam was straightforward; both of them practiced for a while and passed the test promptly, now just waiting for the licenses to be issued.

However, the yacht license was somewhat more complicated, but Jiang Luoluo had long known how to sail, so theoretically there shouldn’t be any problem.

“Of course I passed because of Grandpa’s connections, the driving school said that the license would be issued before the fishing ban starts.”

“That’s good,” Chu Mingcheng nodded, then broached another subject, “By the way, I’m planning to sell this small boat. What do you think?”

Jiang Luoluo pondered for a while. Their trip this time would be quite lengthy, and they wouldn’t return until after the fishing ban was completely over.

By then, the big boat would already be in the water, and with the big boat for sailing, they definitely would no longer use the small one.

The small boat would likely just sit at the dock, requiring maintenance and dock fees, which would clearly be uneconomical.

Selling it would indeed allow them to recoup a significant amount of money while eliminating the hassle.

Therefore, she nodded, “Selling it is good since we won’t need it anymore anyway.”

Chu Mingcheng saw that she agreed and dropped the subject.

Once the fishing ban began, they would just list it with the boatyard, letting them handle the sale, at most paying a service fee.

As for selling to the boatyard, Chu Mingcheng would not do so unless absolutely necessary, since they would offer very low prices, making it not worthwhile.

The ten days passed rapidly; the licenses and visas were in hand, and plane tickets were purchased. They were departing tomorrow morning at ten o’clock.

Chu Mingcheng had already taken the fishing boat to the shipyard to have them handle the sale.

The estimated value of the boat was established through assessments of factors such as time since launch and use of the outboard motor, ultimately appraising at 580,000 yuan.

A boat that had been in the water for about half a year was devalued by 220,000 yuan, which made Chu Mingcheng feel a loss.

However, his outboard motor had been used approximately twice as much as those of most other boat owners because he went out to sea too frequently, hence the even lower price.

The shipyard’s commission for handling the sale was 5%, meaning if the boat sold for 580,000 yuan, they would earn nearly 30,000 yuan in commission.

Of course, the price was negotiable and Chu Mingcheng had a minimum price in mind, which was no less than 500,000 yuan.

The boatyard’s buy-back offer was 400,000 yuan. If the bottom price were to drop further, plus the commission for handling the sale, it would be better for him to sell directly to the boatyard.

After everything was arranged, Zhang Ruomei drove them to the airport, and they took off.

Chu Mingcheng’s first stop was Melbourne, the southern Australian city most suitable for living.

Located just below Melbourne was Tasmania, where the Emperor Crab was found.

Although the Emperor Crab was one of Chu Mingcheng’s targets, he was not so obsessed to urgently take to the sea to catch crabs upon arrival in Australia.

He primarily chose Melbourne because Noah, whom he had previously rescued, lived there, and the city was also great for tourism, so they decided to visit this city first.

Originally, after meeting Chen Chu at the end of the year, Chu Mingcheng had considered asking him about Australia.

However, having unexpectedly met Noah, it was no longer necessary to contact Chen Chu, especially since they weren’t very well acquainted.

Noah was different; he was enthusiastic and hospitable, having invited Chu Mingcheng and Jiang Luoluo to his house and shared drinks with him several times.

Therefore, their relationship was fairly harmonious.

Noah had been staying in China with his wife to take care of their studying son.

Upon learning that Chu Mingcheng was coming to Australia, he explained the situation to his wife and returned home early to act as a guide for the couple.

His wife and son, on the other hand, would return to China after the school holidays in June.