Farming Games are All About Grinding

As long as you don't bite my float, everything is negotiable.

Han Qiwu clung to the hammerhead shark icon like glue, crazily sticking to it.

In no time, the progress bar on the side had already risen to a quarter full.

"This is going pretty smoothly, huh? What does the spring pattern even mean?" Han Qiwu thought to himself.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, it happened.

After a brief jump upward, the hammerhead shark icon suddenly shot high into the air, leaping to the very top of the fishing game frame.

Seeing this, Han Qiwu hurriedly controlled the spinning float to rise.

But the ascent speed of the float was fixed. Even though it caught up to the hammerhead shark, the progress bar on the side dropped by more than half, and it looked like failure was imminent.

[Radiance]!

Han Qiwu quickly hurled a skill at the hammerhead shark.

Familiar streaks of dozens of lights condensed once more in the game frame, but just as they were about to focus on the hammerhead shark's body—

The hammerhead shark icon's eyes lit up, and it instantly dodged the Radiance attack.

[Insight]

Seeing the ineffective Radiance, Han Qiwu hastily controlled the spinning float in another attempt to catch up.

But since too much of the progress bar had already been lost, this round of fishing was a failure.

[Such a pity—the hammerhead shark ate the bait and swam away]

Han Qiwu: "......"

I'm happy to feed it bait!

While putting on fresh bait, Han Qiwu mulled over the situation.

He felt that the spring pattern of this hammerhead shark ought to be called the coil type instead.

First, it builds up power over a short distance, and then it suddenly shoots forward by a large margin.

This thing's literally a spring!

"It can dodge one skill, but if I use two skills, the chances of it dodging might decrease. Besides, during the first few seconds of gameplay, the hammerhead shark tends to behave quite decently. I need to seize the moment to raise the progress bar early. Later on, if the skills fail, I'll just have to rely on luck and keep trying."

Let's do this again!

Hook cast into the sea.

In just a matter of seconds, the hammerhead shark that had tasted victory previously reappeared on the surface, swaggering over with its massive hammer-like head to gulp down the bait.

"Damn shark, you're treating this place like a cafeteria, huh?"

As the fishing interface launched, Han Qiwu cautiously controlled the spinning float to get closer.

Soon enough, the progress bar climbed to a quarter.

At that moment, the hammerhead shark began a brief energy build-up and ascended slightly.

"Shark! Where do you think you're going?"

[Radiance]

[Intermediate Thunder Spell]

Two skills launched simultaneously.

Facing a storm of lightning and dazzling light, the hammerhead shark's eyes lit up once more, darting to the side.

But while it evaded the thunderbolt, it couldn't escape the light.

[Blindness]

This time, the blindness effect took hold, darkening the hammerhead shark's eyes instantly.

"Wait, could the blindness effect neutralize its Insight ability?" Han Qiwu's eyes brightened, and he hurled another pre-charged Intermediate Thunder Spell.

[Paralysis]

Success!

Faced with this skill, the hammerhead shark seemed utterly oblivious, showing no reaction whatsoever.

Half a minute later, Han Qiwu pushed the progress bar to its peak and successfully reeled in the hammerhead shark, which had gobbled down two servings of bait.

[Congratulations! You have caught a hammerhead shark (Silver Star Quality☆) in a One-Star☆ Secret Realm]

[Hammerhead Shark (Silver Star Quality☆)]

[Market Price: 2,000 Gold]

[Stamina +600]

[Life -150]

[Note: Once you're strong enough, feel free to savor the hammerhead shark's unique flavor]

"Two thousand gold? Eleven times the return?" Han Qiwu nodded in gratification. Even with two baits used for this catch, it wasn't a loss at all.

As for the remark in the note, Han Qiwu chose to ignore it outright.

Unique flavor?

Sharks expel waste through their skin—I have zero intentions of sampling their unique flavor.

With this two-thousand gold in hand, wouldn't it be better to go to Brother Zhu for some fresh meat instead?

Speaking of which, it's been ages since I visited Brother Zhu. I should drop by when I've got time to see if there's anything new to snag.

As for the funds for new gear...

I'll bank on this hammerhead shark!

After contemplating, Han Qiwu decided to start by catching swordfish to accumulate skill energy before attempting hammerhead sharks again for higher profits.

Goldfin sharks can wait—fishing those costs way too much float durability.

Let's fish!

An hour later.

An excited yet slightly weary Han Qiwu leaned against a rock, chewing on pine nuts.

Catching hammerhead sharks was exhausting.

It wasn't that they were harder to catch than Dunkleosteus.

It was mostly because the difficulty of the hammerhead shark matched Han Qiwu's fishing skills evenly.

Only by focusing completely—and with a dash of luck—could he reel them in.

After an hour of non-stop action, even a macho man would be worn out.

"If the regular hammerhead sharks are already this challenging, I wonder what the so-called rare species of hammerhead sharks would be like. Good thing there's still some time—might as well give it a shot."

Han Qiwu brushed off the pine nut shells on his hands, picked up some newly bought hammerhead shark bait, and placed it on the ground. Then, he plucked a sizable chunk of deep-sea seaweed.

Comparing shapes for a moment, he stuffed the seaweed into the center hole of the hammerhead shark bait, pressed it firmly, and smoothed it out.

Done.

He hooked the modified bait and hurled it forcefully into the sea.

"Whoosh."

"Splash."

Watching the tranquil sea, Han Qiwu felt curious.

He had been here for quite some time yet hadn't seen a single seabird. What could be going on?

The ancient sea zone should have seabirds, right?

Where are the birds???

"Splash splash."

A silvery-gray figure not far away interrupted Han Qiwu's thoughts.

Han Qiwu stood up and gazed at it. This hammerhead shark looked very different from the previous ones. The distance between its two eyes on its head had significantly decreased, measuring only thirty to forty centimeters, and its head had become more streamlined. As it swam closer, it bit down on the bait, triggering the fishing game.

[Narrow-Head Hammerhead Shark: Movement pattern is reverse curve jump, Skill—Evasion: Uses stamina to actively evade one attack]

"Narrow-head hammerhead shark? Well, the naming is certainly straightforward." Han Qiwu heightened his vigilance and carefully maneuvered the float closer.

Compared to the hammerhead shark's skill, the narrow-head hammerhead shark's evasion was more explicit—it actively dodged a single attack.

This meant Han Qiwu had to tread carefully and aim to succeed on the first attempt.

If it escaped, catching it next time would mean significantly lower skill accuracy.

Just like the hammerhead shark, the first half of the fishing progress was smooth, with the progress bar quickly rising to a quarter.

Feeling threatened, the narrow-head hammerhead shark stayed calm, building up energy briefly before hopping upward slightly.

Recalling the information from the intermediate fish guide, Han Qiwu didn't advance but retreated instead, maneuvering the spinning float to the bottom of the game frame to lie in wait.

And sure enough, the narrow-head hammerhead shark icon rebounded downward in a sudden leap.

"So this is the reverse curve jump?" Han Qiwu chuckled mischievously and mercilessly launched Radiance straight at it.

[Evasion]

A silver glow shimmered above the narrow-head hammerhead shark, effortlessly dodging dozens of beams of light.

"Nicely dodged!"

[Intermediate Thunder Spell]

Half a minute later, the narrow-head hammerhead shark's slowed-down movements left it helpless and hooked.

Why did it get played so effortlessly!