In the time it took for Belphegor to stop sulking over the skill-induced obsolescence of his fishing gear, Fenris finished attaching the various components to the new rod and passed it to Ami.
“Okay!” Ami pumped herself up. “How do I use this thing?”
“... Ah! My apologies, I don't know what came over me… Come, this way.”
Mostly snapping out of his despondency, Belphegor led the siblings out to the pier.
“Besides the rod, there’s one other thing that the [Fishing] skill hasn't replaced (yet, anyways), and that is—the bait.”
“Like bugs?” Ami asked.
“Indeed!” Belphegor suddenly paused. “… You don't happen to be bad with bugs, do you?”
“No, I actually think they're cute! I really like the wiggly ones, like centipedes!” Ami replied emphatically, causing Belphegor to make a troubled ‘right, she was like that’ face.
“A-anyways, without further ado… Behold!”
He pulled out an open can of worms.
“... Worms,” Fenris astutely noted.
“Yeah.” Ami agreed. “Worms.”
They stared at the worms for a few seconds.
“... Ehe~” A creepy giggle came from Ami. “That’s right… Good worms should squirm, just like that… They're much more appealing that way.”
“The way you put that was remarkably unsettling, but yes—these are very good worms for fishing.”
“I wasn't talking about fishing, though?” Ami tilted her head.
Belphegor felt a cold sweat.
“... So, fishing?” Fenris asked.
“Right, fishing!” Belphegor eagerly left that topic.
“Once you hook a fish, you’ll have two gauges to watch: the first one helps with timing when to pull on the rod, while the round gauge shows how much tension is on the fishing line. If you're not pulling hard enough, the fish will be more likely to escape; however, if the gauge maxes out, your line will break.”
“Besides those two things,” he continued. “Your stamina will drain proportionally to how hard you’re pulling. It likely won't be an issue with most of the fish around here, but you’ll need to manage your stamina meter if you hook a larger one.”
“... Stamina meter.” Fenris repeated the unfamiliar term. Ami had explained some common game mechanics, like HP and MP, to him the night before, but he didn't remember hearing about ‘Stamina’.
“Sorry, not a lot of games have SP, so I didn't teach you about that one,” Ami sighed.
Intense movements, like dashing or attacking, would drain some amount of stamina points, or SP; if someone’s SP gauge were completely emptied, they would be forced to move much more slowly and have limited actions until their SP was at least half-full again. As such, it was usually better to pace oneself during fights instead of running out of stamina and becoming vulnerable.
“Actually, it seems like everything drains stamina in this game,” Belphegor corrected Ami's explanation. “SP regen is faster than the costs in most cases, but staying completely still will let you recover the fastest.”
He scratched his head.
“Still… I find it a bit odd that they’ve implemented it this way. Universal SP usage is usually only used for gritty, realistic simulation games.”
“Huh… Well, this is a full-dive game. It'd probably feel pretty weird if you didn't get exhausted from doing things.”
“That's true…”
“Anyways. There~!”
Ami remorselessly impaled a worm onto her hook.
“... Having fun?” Fenris asked.
“Yeah!” Ami gave a brilliant smile as worm blood dripped down the hook.
“... I see.” He felt it was better that he didn't understand.
Belphegor wondered if there was a hidden mental exhaustion stat; he felt unusually tired, for some reason.
———
(EXTRA:)
"Murmur, do you like bugs, too?"
"I'm quite partial to beetle larvae, myself."
In the time it took for Belphegor to stop sulking over the skill-induced obsolescence of his fishing gear, Fenris finished attaching the various components to the new rod and passed it to Ami.
“Okay!” Ami pumped herself up. “How do I use this thing?”
“... Ah! My apologies, I don't know what came over me… Come, this way.”
Mostly snapping out of his despondency, Belphegor led the siblings out to the pier.
“Besides the rod, there’s one other thing that the [Fishing] skill hasn't replaced (yet, anyways), and that is—the bait.”
“Like bugs?” Ami asked.
“Indeed!” Belphegor suddenly paused. “… You don't happen to be bad with bugs, do you?”
“No, I actually think they're cute! I really like the wiggly ones, like centipedes!” Ami replied emphatically, causing Belphegor to make a troubled ‘right, she was like that’ face.
“A-anyways, without further ado… Behold!”
He pulled out an open can of worms.
“... Worms,” Fenris astutely noted.
“Yeah.” Ami agreed. “Worms.”
They stared at the worms for a few seconds.
“... Ehe~” A creepy giggle came from Ami. “That’s right… Good worms should squirm, just like that… They're much more appealing that way.”
“The way you put that was remarkably unsettling, but yes—these are very good worms for fishing.”
“I wasn't talking about fishing, though?” Ami tilted her head.
Belphegor felt a cold sweat.
“... So, fishing?” Fenris asked.
“Right, fishing!” Belphegor eagerly left that topic.
“Once you hook a fish, you’ll have two gauges to watch: the first one helps with timing when to pull on the rod, while the round gauge shows how much tension is on the fishing line. If you're not pulling hard enough, the fish will be more likely to escape; however, if the gauge maxes out, your line will break.”
“Besides those two things,” he continued. “Your stamina will drain proportionally to how hard you’re pulling. It likely won't be an issue with most of the fish around here, but you’ll need to manage your stamina meter if you hook a larger one.”
“... Stamina meter.” Fenris repeated the unfamiliar term. Ami had explained some common game mechanics, like HP and MP, to him the night before, but he didn't remember hearing about ‘Stamina’.
“Sorry, not a lot of games have SP, so I didn't teach you about that one,” Ami sighed.
Intense movements, like dashing or attacking, would drain some amount of stamina points, or SP; if someone’s SP gauge were completely emptied, they would be forced to move much more slowly and have limited actions until their SP was at least half-full again. As such, it was usually better to pace oneself during fights instead of running out of stamina and becoming vulnerable.
“Actually, it seems like everything drains stamina in this game,” Belphegor corrected Ami's explanation. “SP regen is faster than the costs in most cases, but staying completely still will let you recover the fastest.”
He scratched his head.
“Still… I find it a bit odd that they’ve implemented it this way. Universal SP usage is usually only used for gritty, realistic simulation games.”
“Huh… Well, this is a full-dive game. It'd probably feel pretty weird if you didn't get exhausted from doing things.”
“That's true…”
“Anyways. There~!”
Ami remorselessly impaled a worm onto her hook.
“... Having fun?” Fenris asked.
“Yeah!” Ami gave a brilliant smile as worm blood dripped down the hook.
“... I see.” He felt it was better that he didn't understand.
Belphegor wondered if there was a hidden mental exhaustion stat; he felt unusually tired, for some reason.
———
(EXTRA:)
"Murmur, do you like bugs, too?"
"I'm quite partial to beetle larvae, myself."
