Whale Island.
The place where the dream begins.
The sun was warm, white seagulls circled high in the sky, and a beautiful rainbow appeared over the deep blue sea in the distance.
"Riku-kun, I'll have to trouble you with these fish again!"
Uncle Cohen, wearing waterproof overalls, placed a bag of fish on the cutting board and grinned brightly.
"Just leave them right there, I'll get them sorted out in a bit, Uncle Cohen."
The owner of this fish shop, Riku, a young man with short black hair and healthy wheat-colored skin, replied with a smile.
Standing at 175 centiters tall, his body was covered in streamlined, panther-like muscles, paired with chiseled facial features that were every bit as handso as you, the reader.
It was hard for anyone to connect this incredibly handso young man to the emaciated child from fifteen years ago—a kid who survived on charity als, wore hand--downs, and was once thought unlikely to survive his first winter.
Not only had Riku grown up, but he had grown into a strikingly handso, tall, and robust man.
More than a few young won had secretly given him their hearts.
But who could possibly understand Riku's troubles?
He was an otherworldly transmigrator.
It had been fifteen years since he crossed over to this world in his physical body, starting out as an infant who nearly froze to death, and struggling step-by-step to reach where he was today.
Now, he ran the most famous fish shop on Whale Island, renowned for having the best knife skills.
And for one simple reason.
Riku had been butchering fish for a full ten years. He started working in the fish shop at the age of five, working all the way up until the previous owner passed away and left the shop to him.
The reason he chose this path was because, alongside his transmigration, he had awakened an [Infinite Trait Plunder System].
Consider it his karmic reward for reading official, legally-supported webnovels in his past life.
True to its na, before the corpse went cold, he could randomly plunder a trait from any target he killed.
As for killing people... Riku hadn't tried that yet, and he didn't have any plans to do so anyti soon.
So...
He killed fish for ten years!
Splash!
All the fish Uncle Cohen brought over were dumped into the holding pool, flopping and jumping around wildly.
But in Riku's eyes, they possessed a completely different kind of charm.
Na: Tuna
Traits: Manic (White), Brute Strength (White), Swift (Green), Underwater Breathing (Green)
...
Na: Clownfish
Traits: Lethargic (White), Toxin (White), Underwater Breathing (White)
...
Na: Grouper
Traits: Gluttonous (White), Camouflage (White), Brute Strength (White), Underwater Breathing (Green)
...
Butchering fish was the easiest and fastest way to acquire traits on Whale Island.
This lifestyle... Riku had lived it for ten years.
With practiced ease, he used a net to scoop one out of the pool and tossed it onto the cutting board.
Thwack—
He knocked it out with a single strike of his club.
Then, his knife rose and fell, swiftly dispatching them one by one.
[You killed a Tuna. Automatically plundering traits. Congratulations, you have obtained Brute Strength (White).]
[You killed a Grouper. Automatically plundering traits. Congratulations, you have obtained Camouflage (White).]
[You killed a Clownfish. Automatically plundering traits. Congratulations, you have obtained Lethargic (White), Toxin (White).]
...
[Given that you already possess 'Imnse Strength' (Purple), it will automatically be absorbed and fused. 'Imnse Strength' (Purple) (92%).]
[Given that you already possess 'Underwater Breathing' (Gold), it will automatically be absorbed and fused. 'Underwater Breathing' (Gold) (22%).]
[Given that you already possess 'Lethal Poison' (Purple), it will automatically be absorbed and fused. 'Lethal Poison' (Purple) (11%).]
...
A series of prompts chid in Riku's ears like heavenly music.
This was where the true joy of killing fish lay.
After a full ten years of this, Riku had completely lost count of exactly how many fish he had slaughtered.
The only reason he possessed such an incredibly strong physique today was precisely because of the stacking buffs from these traits.
But nowadays, the buffing effects these ordinary fish of Whale Island provided to Riku's trait progression had beco extrely weak.
His fish-killing skills had also been honed to absolute perfection.
Across the entirety of Whale Island, he was widely known as the beloved young boss of the local fish shop.
[Detected traits with negative effects: 'Lethargic', 'Manic'. Do you wish to reject absorbing these traits?]
"Reject."
So of the traits these fish carried were negative debuffs, which would occasionally be randomly plundered.
Fortunately, the system directly screened them for Riku, allowing him to choose not to absorb them.
Otherwise, after ten years, wouldn't Riku be absolutely stacked with all sorts of debilitating debuffs?
"Riku! Hurry up! Great news!!"
Suddenly, Uncle Cohen ran back over, his face flushed with excitent.
"Uncle Cohen, your fish are ready. Are you taking them now?"
"Never mind the fish! Gon just caught the Lord of the Lake today! The entire Whale Island is in an uproar! That's the exact sa monster Ging caught ten years ago!! Co quick and watch the spectacle!"
"Oh, right! Bring your knife! We're definitely going to need you to butcher it later! Everyone is waiting for you!!"
Uncle Cohen grabbed Riku by the arm, dragging him out as they looked toward the direction of the Whale Island plaza.
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