Heretical Fishing
Haylock Jobson
When a broken System summons him to a fantastical world abandoned by the gods, Fischer would rather go fishing than be a hero. Granted powers in a realm of mystifying cosmic forces where unimaginable power awaits those willing to ascend, he shuns fame, fortune and cult worship to perfect forbidden fishing techniques and befriend every cute animal within scritching distance — including a guard crab that fires energy blades. But cosmic forces rarely care for mortal feelings: inept cults, conspiring nobles, awakening ancient constructs, and even his own friends founding a church to turn him into a god keep dragging Fischer back into conflict. Pet your dog, grab a rod and a pastry — the catch of a lifetime awaits in this cozy LitRPG progression fantasy.
Progression: Explicit LitRPG System-driven progression is central and continuously foregrounded. The world operates on a broken System that grants stats, skills and ascension tiers: summoned protagonists are expected to watch their stats climb through combat and cultivation, with unimaginable power gated behind willingness to ascend. Fischer's companions demonstrate the ladder — his crab fires anime-style energy blades, an otter summons lightning like Zeus, and a bunny delivers roundhouse kicks — showing beast companions also scale through System empowerment. As power returns to the world after millennia, ancient constructs reawaken, awakened beings proliferate, and cults/temples vie to apotheosize Fischer, marking distinct power thresholds per volume. Each book escalates from personal fishing mastery to regional capital politics, merchant networks, and emergent godhood, with System-awakened threats (cults, nobles, constructs) serving as gate checks that force Fischer's reluctant advancement. Progression is tracked via expanding menagerie strength, coastal territory control, and Fischer's own unwilling slide toward divinity.
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