I gazed at the sunrise from the mountaintop.
So what, you might ask.
I kinda expected to feel more moved or something, but not really.
I guess those sunrise spectacles are the sort of thing you truly appreciate after the sense of accomplishment that comes from laboriously climbing a high mountain.
I basically bounced my way up here, and the mountain wasn't even that tall to begin with, so...
Sunrises aside, there was something else visible from the mountaintop.
The ocean.
A beach that looked perfect for a summer vacation.
Crashing waves.
A dazzling sun.
The sea.
The sea — that hallowed ground of men and women's love stories.
In my past life, I'd mentally filed it under "things for normies," but the beaches of this world had none of those frivolous crowds.
An entire private beach, all to myself.
I'd be a fool not to go.
And so, I began my descent toward the ocean.
The Monsters — whether it was because the Wind Dragon, the mountain's ruler, had been taken down without ceremony, or because they sensed my intimidation, or probably both — were frantically fleeing and hiding.
Well, honestly, hunting every single Monster around here wouldn't yield much in the way of Experience Points, so I didn't mind letting them go.
Besides, my stomach wasn't even that hungry.
The Monsters of the Labyrinth tasted better, sure, but with the bounty of the sea awaiting me, letting them slide was perfectly fine.
Thus, I made my way down the mountain without any interference.
I did spend some time gathering nuts and things along the way, but in real time it took roughly an hour to reach the ocean.
I approached the surf.
Waves lapped at my legs.
Cold.
Brr.
The temperature wasn't all that high right now.
Seasonally speaking, was this spring or autumn?
Definitely not summer.
As a result, the seawater was on the chilly side.
A human would probably find swimming rough.
But.
I had already ceased to be human.
A little cold was nothing to fear now.
So then, let's go.
Splash, splash.
Hmm?
Oh.
I'm not sinking.
What's going on with my body's buoyancy?
I can force myself down for a moment if I put my strength into it.
But I bounce right back to the surface.
Without doing anything, I just float there bobbing along.
And if I stay idle, the waves carry me right back to the beach.
Oh no.
Can spiders not swim?
This was completely unexpected.
It never even occurred to me that I wouldn't sink.
In my past life I wasn't exactly a strong swimmer, but I could still sink at least.
I never imagined I'd end up like this, with a permanent floatie strapped on.
At this rate, I can't dive down to grab shells or anything.
Would I be able to dive if I picked up the Swimming Skill?
Nah, but getting that Skill would probably take a pretty long time.
Same as with Fire Resistance — when you're trying to learn a Skill that goes against your racial strengths, the Proficiency requirement is ridiculously high.
Speaking of which, how many points would it cost to grab Swimming outright?
Let me search with Wisdom.
Whoa.
It says 1000 points to get Swimming.
Expensive.
Yeah, I should probably just give up on that one.
A little shaken by the realization that I couldn't swim, I headed back to the beach.
Well, it's not that I *can't* swim.
I just can't dive.
I can float, so I can still move around through the water, right?
It's not like I'm completely helpless.
Not at all.
Haa.
Oh well.
Maybe I'll fish with my Universal Thread instead.
I pulled out some Monster meat I'd stored in Dimensional Storage.
Attached it to the tip of the thread.
No hook needed, and it stuck on — now that's convenient.
I cast the thread far out over the water.
A real angler would probably whip the rod to send the line flying, but with Thread Manipulation I can easily send it out a great distance.
Confirmed that the thread had reached far, far out from the beach, and I waited for something to bite.
It didn't even wait — instant hit.
Oh?
That's quite a bit of force.
Heh heh.
But my arm strength is already firmly in dragon-class territory.
Some random Monster isn't going to outmatch me.
I reeled it in hand over hand.
With my Universal Thread, there was no risk of it being detected or snapping.
I'd heard that in real fishing, there's a trick called "feeling" where the catch can tell something's wrong once it's hooked?
My Universal Thread's adhesive force was far beyond what a hook could provide, so no problem there.
Unless it was set on fire, even a Dragon-class creature couldn't wriggle free easily.
A dark shape appeared in the shallows and thrashed about.
I dispatched the still-struggling opponent and hauled it onto the beach.
What I'd caught was a shark.
More precisely, a Water Dragon that looked like a shark.
Its Water Dragon Skill was Level 7, so that probably qualified it as a high-ranking dragon, right?
Maybe upper-mid to high tier.
I put down the shark that was still trying to resist on the beach with a quick finishing blow.
Not quite the fish I'd been expecting, but a shark was still a fish.
I'd never heard of shark sashimi, but was it any good?
Taste test.
The skin is tough!
And here I thought it was just normal-looking skin, but it had the Dragon Scales Skill.
Scales.
No wonder it's tough.
The skin didn't look edible, so I peeled it off.
Alright.
Actual taste test.
Here goes.
Oh, yeah, mmm.
Delicious, delicious.
Not blow-your-mind delicious, but definitely tasty.
It'd really hit the spot with some soy sauce.
Come to think of it, shark fin was a luxury ingredient, wasn't it?
The tail part, I think?
Ah.
Yeah, the flavor of the meat was distinctly different from regular fish.
Really good.
Thinking about it, I don't think I'm cut out for food reviews.
All I can really say is "tasty" or "not tasty."
I used to make fun of TV announcers when they'd give bland commentary that clearly wasn't conveying anything, but now I realize their job is actually pretty tough.
Whew.
Thanks for the meal.
Mmm.
Fishing is great.
Let's keep pulling up more of the ocean's bounty.