Chapter 4

Farming Fantasy Fish

For the several days since I first met Daldal,

I had been living much busier days than I expected.

The biggest headache was changing the species listed on the fish farm’s existing flounder farming license to Fantasy Fish.

“Excuse me? Fantasy... Fish?”

The official in charge of aquaculture licenses frowned deeply as he looked over the documents I had submitted, saying I wanted to farm Fantasy Fish.

“Yes. Well, these are a special type of fish that an Awakened who has received the blessing of a ‘Spirit Beast’ can collect from the sea. You know about Fantasy Creatures, right? The creatures Awakened collect inside Gates. Anyway, I’m trying to farm one type of those, Fantasy Fish...”

“Ah, excuse me. I’m sorry, but I don’t think this falls under my department.”

“What? I came here because I was told you were in charge of aquaculture licenses.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think this can be handled by the county office’s aquaculture department. I’ll direct you to the official in charge of fisheries and aquaculture at the provincial office.”

“I see...”

As you can probably tell by now, from the day I took those documents to the county office,

I entered a hellish cycle of being passed from one person in charge to another.

I visited offices in person, made phone calls, faxed documents...

Ugh.

To give the conclusion first,

I somehow managed to get permission to farm them.

Though it came in a slightly strange form.

“There are many people rushing to domesticate Fantasy Creatures or turn them into farmable crops... but you do know that not a single person has succeeded, right?”

“Yes.”

“Even the government has more or less given up on it, but there are still plenty of people who insist on trying. We can approve it under a research permit, but since you’re still young and have your whole future ahead of you... I suggest you dream a little more realistically.”

“...Thank you for the advice.”

With the worried advice of an older official from the Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans,

I successfully received permission to farm them for the purpose of ‘research.’

Still, permission was permission.

As long as I could do it legally, I had nothing to complain about.

Whenever I looked at the deep blue sea, I somehow found myself thinking positively about everything.

That was something I could never have imagined doing in Seoul.

“All right. Should I start properly fixing up the facilities now?”

Among the belongings my father left behind,

there was also a manual explaining in detail how to operate, maintain, and repair every facility at the fish farm.

It was incredibly detailed.

Painfully detailed.

Every sentence had been carefully written as if the writer were patiently teaching and comforting the person reading it.

“He really wrote everything down. Was he that certain I’d look at this someday?”

As I kept reading,

it felt as if my father were standing right beside me and teaching me himself.

After staying up the entire night and using every spare part and tool my father had left behind,

“It actually works.”

I managed to repair the filters and pumps enough to supply clean water to one or two tanks.

Vroooom!

With a powerful sound, the pump came to life and began drawing water from the nearby coast.

The seawater passed through the filter,

then flowed into the tanks I had already scrubbed clean.

Peet-peet!

As soon as enough water filled the tank, Daldal jumped in and happily began swimming around.

I had already seen it several times, but he really was an incredible swimmer.

After checking that the tank had no leaks and that the filters and other equipment were working properly,

“Heave-ho.”

I released the Fantasy Fish Daldal had caught, the ‘Dragon Palace Rockfish,’ into the farming tank.

“Oh... Ohhh! They’re adapting just fine!”

Peep, peep!

Watching the rockfish swim around the tank,

Daldal and I excitedly bounced up and down in place.

[Information: Taming Skill available.]

Hm?

I was happily watching the rainbow-colored fish inside the tank when a Status Window suddenly appeared before my eyes.

[Fantasy Fish have been recognized as being farmed under the blessing of the ‘Dragon Palace.’]

[Special Tamer Skill: Environmental Adaptation, Lv. 1, available.]

[Would you like to view the details?]

Oh.

When I checked the skill description,

it seemed to be a skill that helped Fantasy Creatures adapt to environments where they normally could not survive.

“Do I just do it like this? ‘Skill: Environmental Adaptation,’ activate. Oh.”

Following the instructions on the Status Window, I activated the skill.

A strange power rose from somewhere inside my body,

spread through my hand,

and flowed toward the Dragon Palace Rockfish in the tank.

[The adaptability of the Dragon Palace Rockfish affected by the skill has increased.]

[Disease Resistance +1, Feed Adaptation +1, High Water Temperature Adaptation +1]

This is good.

Every single effect was something anyone running a fish farm would want.

The Dragon Palace Rockfish, which had been swimming around somewhat restlessly before,

now moved much more slowly and calmly in a stable school.

[Special Tamer Skill: Area Growth Acceleration, Lv. 1, available.]

The Status Window appeared again.

This time it was Growth Acceleration.

According to the description, it slightly accelerated the growth of Fantasy Creatures within the skill’s range.

If it meant I could ship them sooner, there was absolutely no downside.

“Should I test it? ‘Skill: Area Growth Acceleration,’ activate.”

I immediately followed the instructions and activated the skill.

Then,

along with the sensation of warm energy suddenly draining from inside my body,

[Information: Fantasy Creatures currently being farmed have undergone +15 days of rapid growth.]

[Information: Fantasy Creatures currently being farmed have grown to the highest grade.]

“Ohhh.”

That effect was incredible.

I checked my own Status Window again.

“Ah.”

Name: Yang Suho
Class: Tamer

Level: 25
Title: None

Fame: 0

Health: 100/100

Mana: 25/100

This skill eats a ridiculous amount of mana.

It was a little shocking,

but the skill was practically a cheat, so this price still seemed cheap.

Peep, peep! Peep-peep-peep-peep-peep!

“Hm?”

Daldal had been staring at the tank now filled with fully grown Dragon Palace Rockfish.

Eventually, he could no longer hold himself back and jumped straight into it.

Peep, peep! Peet!

[Translation: Small Sea!]

After jumping into the tank,

Daldal freely swam through it like one giant fish...

and happily played together with the others.

“Hahaha.”

Watching him,

my father’s face suddenly came to mind.

A family of otters had appeared out of nowhere and treated the flounder tank like their personal swimming pool.

My father had complained endlessly about how ridiculous it was,

then picked up his scoop net and headed outside.

Thinking about it now,

he had probably gone out to give some flounder to the otter family playing in the tank.

Was this what Father saw back then?

Watching a Spirit Otter and fish swimming together inside this tiny sea,

it almost felt like a scene from The Little Mermaid...

Crunch!

Peep, peep!

[Translation: Delicious!]

Correction.

Watching the otter happily swim around the tank,

then suddenly attack a Dragon Palace Rockfish, bite it in half, and devour it...

It looked exactly like a scene from a nature documentary.

[Information: Affinity with Partner has increased by +1.]

Yeah.

If you like it, that makes me happy too.

“Let’s see. To produce fertilized eggs from farmed rockfish, the following facilities are required. A larval tank building and dedicated aeration system. Broodstock at least thirty-six months old. And... this is more complicated than I thought.”

Around noon that same day,

I fell into thought while staring at the Dragon Palace Rockfish, now mature enough to be shipped.

For sustainable farming,

the most important thing was breeding fully grown fish to produce a new generation.

With ordinary species, I could simply buy fertilized eggs or larvae, young fish.

But no one was going to be selling fertilized eggs or fry of Fantasy Fish somewhere.

Sooner or later,

this was something I absolutely had to accomplish myself.

“But I don’t even know if these things reproduce the same way ordinary rockfish do.”

I had gone from a fisheries high school straight into an Aquaculture major.

There was no way I would not know how to farm ordinary rockfish.

But Fantasy Creatures?

“This is giving me a headache.”

I might have to install equipment I knew nothing about.

They might require some kind of special food.

Since I knew nothing about their ecology,

I had no idea where to even begin.

Just in case, I looked into examples of other people who had tried to domesticate Fantasy Creatures or turn them into farmable crops like I was doing...

But forget successfully raising them to the point of shipment,

there were barely any people who had even managed to settle one properly on an ordinary farm on Earth.

“What am I supposed to do... It’s not like I can just go underwater and watch them.”

Spring,

especially March and April,

was the season when rockfish became active for breeding.

Farmed rockfish were also matured in large numbers during this period to produce larvae,

so it was important not to miss the natural timing.

Hm?

Wait.

What did I just say?

“Go underwater and watch them... Come to think of it, how exactly did Daldal catch these guys?”

Peet-peep-peep?

[Translation: Ruler of the Small Sea. Did you summon me?]

Daldal, who had tired himself out playing in the tank and was drying his body in a sunny spot,

scurried over and settled on my shoulder.

Warm...

It felt like someone had placed a velvet scarf around my neck.

For some reason,

I even felt like he smelled nice...

“Daldal. There’s something I want to ask you.”

Peep, peep!

[Translation: Ask me anything, new master of the Small Sea.]

The translator is working properly, right?

“You said you caught these Dragon Palace Rockfish in the Dragon King’s Sea, right? How did you get there?”

Peet-peep-peep!

[Translation: By swimming!]

“...R, right. Of course you swam there. But I... kind of want to see the place where these fish live with my own eyes. If it’s possible, could you take me there yourself?”

I explained it to Daldal as carefully as I could.

While listening, he repeatedly tilted his head left and right,

and he looked so cute that I nearly lost my concentration.

After tilting his head and shifting his body around for a while,

he suddenly hopped down to the ground and stood tall.

Peeeeep!

[Translation: Let us go immediately!]

Then he immediately dashed toward the sea.

Huh?

“Hey, wait! We’re supposed to go together!”

I hurried after Daldal toward the ocean...

Then stopped,

turned around,

and ran back to the house instead.

I threw open the firmly closed door to my old room.

“It better still be here. Please... Yes! It is!”

Inside were my scuba diving suit and equipment,

which had not been touched by me even once since I moved to Seoul.

“Will any of this still work? Huh? Everything works? No way.”

Several years had passed.

Yet despite all that time,

the equipment and diving suit greeted me in perfect condition,

as though someone had continued taking care of them all this time.

As for who had maintained them until now...

“Thank you, Father.”

I quickly put on the equipment and headed toward the beach where Daldal was waiting.

Peet-peep-peep?!

[Translation: You look extremely strange! Did something happen?]

Apparently, this was Daldal’s first time seeing a human in a diving suit.

He curiously wandered around me, examining every part of it.

“Humans need all kinds of things before going underwater. All right. Shall we go?”

I securely strapped on the oxygen tank and prepared to enter the sea.

Peeeeep!

Wearing flippers, I awkwardly waddled toward the water.

Just as I was about to finally enter the sea,

Daldal hurried over and blocked my path.

Peep, peep!

Then he waved both front paws through the air,

pulled something out from who knew where,

and held it out to me.

It was a necklace decorated with a tiny seashell...?

Where did you even pull that from...?

“What is this?”

Peep-peep-peep!

[Translation: A pass.]

“A pass?”

Still unsure, I put the necklace around my neck.

[Information: Unique Item of a ‘Spirit Beast,’ ‘Dragon Palace Pass,’ equipped.]

According to the Status Window,

it was one of Daldal’s unique items.

It said that it revealed a hidden world beneath the sea...

Part of me felt a little worried,

but another part of me was already growing excited at the thought of seeing a completely new world I knew nothing about.

“All right. Now let’s really go!”

Peet, peet!

At last,

Daldal and I entered the sea together for the first time.

Because it was still early spring,

the water was cold enough to make my body tremble slightly.

But then,

Gasp...!

the moment I saw the breathtakingly beautiful sight of an ocean I had never known existed spreading out before my eyes...

What is this...? This is the same southern sea I thought I knew?!

My body began to tremble lightly,

not from the cold,

but from excitement.