Lin Ye was currently standing on a small island less than ten square meters in size, surrounded by a boundless expanse of red sea in every direction.

Above wasn't a roof but a gray, overcast sky that met the sea at the horizon, with nothing else particularly noteworthy in sight.

Lin Ye walked to the center of the small island and stood there for a while, but wasn't transported to the fifth floor of the Tower.

"...This is the fourth floor of the Tower? To get to the fifth floor, do I need to go into the sea? I don't think I know how to swim..."

Lin Ye looked at Little Ye, having absolutely no desire to approach that obviously problematic seawater.

"Here."

Little Ye took out a fishing rod and handed it to Lin Ye.

"Where did this fishing rod come from? Can you conjure up other things too?"

Lin Ye wanted some fishing bait.

"Learning that rune from the second floor allows you to summon fishing rods here."

Little Ye indicated that she didn't have any bait either.

"What are runes?"

Lin Ye took the fishing rod, which had a very simple structure consisting of a wooden rod body and a black thin line, with a metal fishhook tied to the end of the fishing line.

"I don't know either, I just know they're runes."

Little Ye took out another fishing rod and walked toward the edge of the small island.

Lin Ye followed her. He had no memories about fishing, but according to common sense, he at least needed to put some bait on the fishhook.

Little Ye sat at the edge of the small island, tore off a tendril from Lin Ye's spare blood pack to use as bait, then cast her fishing line and began fishing.

Her movements were quite skilled, not at all like a beginner.

Lin Ye also pulled off a tendril to use as bait, imitating Little Ye's movements as he cast the fishhook into the sea.

"You know how to fish? What do we do next?"

Lin Ye was very uncomfortable with this state of doing nothing.

"Since I have no memories, this is actually my first time fishing too. I think we just wait for fish to bite."

Little Ye had more patience than Lin Ye.

"Alright."

Lin Ye began practicing his skills using the blood from the arm on his chest.

Three minutes later, Lin Ye's fishing rod suddenly moved.

"Eh? I didn't expect I had a talent for fishing!"

Lin Ye violently pulled the fishing rod out of the water, with a ten-centimeter-long red strange fish hanging from the fishhook.

After leaving the water, the strange fish's body inflated like it was being pumped with air, eventually transforming into a one-meter-tall fish-head monster.

Lin Ye used the arm on his chest to spray blood that exploded the fish-head monster's head.

Watching his first catch shatter and disappear, Lin Ye silently picked up the red fragment on the ground.

"Don't be impatient, fishing requires patience."

Little Ye also pulled her fishing rod out of the water, with a golden treasure chest hanging from her fishhook.

Lin Ye opened the treasure chest and received two notifications.

[Obtained red fragment*5]

[Obtained portal fragment*1]

"Damn, I have to collect fragments for this too?"

Lin Ye had no choice but to tear off another tendril and continue fishing.

Not long after, Lin Ye's fishing rod moved again.

"Treasure chest!"

Lin Ye violently pulled up the fishing rod, but instead of a chest, the fishhook held a large blood-red spider covered in red fuzz and long legs.

After leaving the seawater, the spider also inflated like the previous strange fish, eventually transforming into a giant spider two meters tall and three meters long.

Lin Ye sprayed corrosive blood at the giant spider, but the spider nimbly jumped sideways to avoid the blood spit.

Simultaneously, the giant spider sprayed a large amount of dark red silk strands at Lin Ye. After all, Lin Ye had learned blood spitting from these monsters, so he had been guarding against this kind of ranged attack.

When the spider made the spitting motion, Lin Ye predicted its move and shifted diagonally backward, while controlling the arm on his chest to shoot large amounts of blood covering the entire area where the spider was located.

As this blood covered the spider, Lin Ye activated Blood Burning.

The frenzied energy exploded and tore apart the spider's body, but it didn't fall. Instead, it frantically used its remaining limbs to prop itself up and charged directly at Lin Ye.

Lin Ye directly used Blood Burning on the arm on his chest while controlling the blood in the arm to spray forward.

Boom!

The energy pushed Lin Ye backward, and the sprayed blood exploded most of the spider's body. But the spider still didn't stop, forcing Lin Ye to continue spraying blood. He fired three consecutive shots before completely shattering the continuously approaching spider.

The giant spider shattered, leaving behind a pile of red fragments.

After picking up these fragments, Lin Ye finally gathered one hundred red fragments.

"Give me a god-tier skill!"

Lin Ye used one hundred red fragments to synthesize an ultimate skill.

[Obtained red Rule Fragment*1, convert to Ultimate Skill?]

"Huh? The prompt asks if I want to convert the Rule Fragment into an Ultimate Skill, what does this mean?"

Lin Ye looked at Little Ye, who had been fishing all along. The giant spider hadn't affected her fishing state at all.

At this moment, another golden treasure chest had appeared at her feet.

"Don't convert it, Rule Fragments are more valuable... although I don't know what they are either."

Little Ye said very directly.

"But then I can't use an Ultimate Skill, which might cause me to fail the escape."

This choice would leave Lin Ye severely lacking in combat power. Relying on his current skills, he could barely handle even a water spider.

"This Rule Fragment was obtained by exchanging one hundred red fragments, right? You can use those scattered fragments to obtain an Ultimate Skill. Although you'll still lose some combat power this way, you can focus on practicing one skill. More skills aren't necessarily better - proficiency is very important too."

Little Ye had a feeling that converting Rule Fragments into Ultimate Skills was a very foolish choice.

"Alright, no conversion."

Lin Ye felt Little Ye made some sense. Skill proficiency was indeed very important. He didn't even need an Ultimate Skill - if he just practiced his basic and advanced skills to a certain level, he could spray corrosive blood from anywhere on his body while continuously absorbing blood from surrounding corpses as replenishment. By then, he could easily handle spiders like this.

A bright red light flashed before his eyes and surged into his body.

Lin Ye felt like he saw many things, but when he tried to recall them carefully, he couldn't remember anything.

But when Lin Ye sat at the island's edge and began practicing blood control, he suddenly felt the blood had become much more obedient.

It didn't require forceful control - the blood would follow his will automatically.

'Is this the effect of Rule Fragments?'

Lin Ye decided to obtain another gray Rule Fragment, using other fragments to synthesize an Ultimate Skill.

Just as Lin Ye was contemplating Rule Fragments, Little Ye caught her third golden treasure chest.

Lin Ye looked at the two treasure chests at Little Ye's feet, then thought about the spider he had caught, suddenly realizing he might not need to sit here at all. If he just left it to Little Ye, he could safely obtain various fragments from the side.

Moreover, the things he caught were too dangerous - first a one-meter-tall fish-head monster, then a two-meter-tall giant spider. If there was a pattern here, the third catch would likely be even more difficult to deal with.

Just as he thought this, Lin Ye's fishing rod suddenly moved.