Jasper rested for a long time while leaning against the capsized boat. It was the scariest moment he had ever experienced in his life. He had completely underestimated the water when he jumped into it. Once his breathing finally returned to normal, he looked around at the surroundings while continuing to rest. Barry had already left the boat and swum somewhere else.
He soon spotted Barry swimming toward the opposite side of the place where they had fought the fish. After a moment, Jasper realized where Barry was heading when he saw him picking up some cubic Beast Space traps that had not been destroyed by the fish. Jasper's eyes quickly shifted to the place where the fish had been floating, and soon he found the enormous body still drifting on the surface.
Once Barry collected the remaining Beast Space Dimensional Pocket, he swam toward the unconscious—or possibly dead—Golden Orange Snakehead and used it to capture the fish's body. When the massive fish suddenly disappeared into the cube, Jasper expected it might burst out again like before. However, nothing happened even after a long while. Soon Barry began swimming back toward him.
"Are you okay?" Barry asked as he approached.
"Yeah, I'm okay. I panicked earlier." Jasper scratched his head awkwardly.
"Not a problem, man. I learned how to swim when I was ten years old. It's actually very easy to swim. All you have to do is float your body," Barry began explaining while giving Jasper some basic pointers.
"Once you do that, you need to kick your legs behind like this." He demonstrated by kicking the water while staying afloat. "Then use your arms to push the water backward." Barry continued giving instructions as he swam slowly around the flipped boat.
Jasper listened carefully to the instructions and decided to try it himself. If he didn't learn now, he might suffer the same nightmare again in the future. So he slowly lowered his legs into the water while keeping his hands gripping the boat. He tried floating on the surface and kicked his legs the same way Barry had shown him. He continued practicing the motion for some time until he felt a little more confident.
Then he slowly pushed his body fully into the water. Taking a deep breath, he let go of the boat and immediately started moving his hands forward in swimming strokes.
However, he instantly fell back into the same problem as before. His arms began frantically slapping the water while he forgot to move his legs.
"Kick your legs and push the water backward with your palms!" Barry instructed while sitting on top of the flipped boat.
Realizing he had forgotten to move his legs, Jasper quickly began kicking unevenly while pushing the water backward with his hands. Suddenly his body began moving forward without sinking.
After repeating the motion several times with both his legs and arms, his mind slowly started to understand the pattern.
Suddenly Jasper increased the speed of his kicks and swung his arms faster, and his body shot forward through the water. A bright smile appeared on his face as he began swimming rapidly.
Seeing how fast Jasper was swimming, Barry's mouth hung open in disbelief. He scratched his head, thinking that if anyone heard this story they would never believe Jasper had learned how to swim just minutes ago.
Still wearing a dumbfounded expression, Barry jumped into the water, grabbed the boat, and flipped it upright again so it could sail. With Jasper's swimming speed he could easily reach the shore, but Barry knew he would quickly run out of stamina if he tried to swim the whole distance.
While Jasper was happily swimming around in circles, Barry flipped the boat properly and began removing the water that had filled it.
"Let's go!" Barry shouted toward Jasper with a wide grin on his face. He could barely contain his excitement now that they were about to earn a huge amount of Achievement points.
Jasper heard Barry's shout and quickly turned his head. Seeing the boat ready to sail, he swam over immediately and climbed aboard while Barry began steering the tiller toward the shore of the lake.
"So did the fish die, or is it just unconscious?" Jasper asked while standing inside the boat. He had hoped the fish was only unconscious because a live catch would bring more gold—one gold coin for every kilogram. Considering the enormous size of the fish, even if it were dead he would still earn a share far greater than anything he had ever imagined.
"No, it's simply unconscious. To kill it, we would need to remove the heart of the fish," Barry said with a huge grin on his face. Just moments ago he had been standing at death's door, and capturing the fish had seemed almost impossible.
Jasper felt slightly shaken when he heard how difficult it was to kill the creature.
Does that mean even if I used all my strength I wouldn't be able to kill it?
The thought crushed his pride of being strong enough to fight anything.
"What if it breaks that thing again and comes out?" Jasper suddenly asked. If the fish woke up, wouldn't it simply break the cube like before?
"Don't worry. The Beast Space is fully locked now. Even if the fish wakes up, it won't be able to break the magic rune like it did before when it was free. It's completely subdued now."
Although Jasper didn't fully understand what Barry meant about Beast Space and magic runes, he didn't really care as long as the fish didn't wake up before they sold it to the cookhouse.
Soon they reached the shore. Even though Jasper had just learned how to swim, he still felt much safer on land and breathed a sigh of relief once his feet touched the ground.
Barry stored the boat inside his dimensional bracelet, and the two of them began walking toward Fessi Village, leaving Fessi Lake behind.
————
It had been almost two hours since the duo had left the village earlier, and now the number of people on the streets had increased greatly as more travelers arrived to stay for the night. The main street was especially crowded with activity. Some people were eating dinner, some were conducting business, while others were relaxing with drinks after a long day of work.
Barry and Jasper walked directly toward the cookhouse that had posted the bounty request. Neither of them could contain their excitement as they imagined the huge reward waiting for them.
Barry walked ahead while Jasper followed closely behind.
As soon as they entered through the main door, Barry approached the reception desk.
"Excuse me, sir. I'm here to submit my catch for the bounty request," Barry declared confidently.
Behind the desk stood an old man with a bald head and white hair, wearing a monocle over his right eye. Without moving his head, he slowly lifted his gaze and stared at the two young men standing there in half-dried clothes and messy hair.
"You caught a Giant Orange Snakehead?" the old man asked in a hoarse voice, clear doubt written across his face.
"Not the Giant Orange Snakehead," Barry replied proudly. "A Golden Orange Snakehead."
"Hahahaha!"
The old man burst into loud laughter, and several people sitting at nearby tables turned their heads to look at the two young men.
Barry's face froze as he noticed the strangers staring at them.
"Do you want to bet?" Barry's voice suddenly boomed across the cook-house.