Fishing with water magic

[[Roll: 16]]

Libet was almost ten days old, at least since being reborn as a goblin. That meant she was considered an adult by goblin standards. That meant she had to get to work on earning some status within her tribe, the Fishbone Tribe, lest she end up being claimed as a breeding ****. Fortunately, she was a mage, which meant she was born with an innate understanding of simple elemental magic. As she'd grown and gotten used to this new life, she'd also begun to train her new magic. And she'd use it to earn herself enough status that she could avoid the worst fate.

For humans, the basic necessities were food and water, clothing, and shelter. For goblins, food and water as well as shelter still applied. But in place of clothing, their other necessity was breeding stock. That could take the form of other goblins, or captives. Securing one of those basic necessities was the way to gain status.

After a bit of thought, Libet had come to a conclusion on how to begin raising her status while still practicing her magic: catching fish.

Fishbone Village, home to the Fishbone Tribe, had been built on the shores of a large river. After grabbing a basket, Libet had headed upstream a bit to do some fishing.

Once she had some privacy and didn't have to worry about someone stealing her method of fishing, she began to peer into the water until she spotted fish swimming about. All she had to do was stretch her will out towards the spot that fish was swimming in, let her mana infiltrate the water, and then lift a big globe of water with a fish inside into the air. Then, she had to carry the globe of water through the air, let it hover above her basket, and then release her hold on the water. This caused it, and the fish inside, to splash down into the basket. Given the basket was woven with reeds, the water slipped through without issue, but the fish could only helplessly flop around until it died.

Of course, describing this was simpler than doing it in practice. It was like operating a crane game, where it was easy for her to lift the wrong patch of water into the air, or for it to burst before she could move it above the basket.

After a couple hours of this, Libet was drained physically and mentally. But she had managed to catch a dozen fish.

She picked up the basket and carried it back to the village, bringing it to the cooks. The one who took it looked her up and down and asked, "How you catch this?"

"With my hands," she lied.

Given how much water had been splashed around through Libet's work, she was soaked, and this was a believable excuse. So the goblin cook bought it. "You get one fish with dinner."

Although she'd caught a dozen, Libet would only get one. The others were reserved for the higher ranking members of the tribe. That said, it was better than the standard fare: stew on good days, roots and bugs on bad days.

There were about fifty goblins currently in the tribe, and those who couldn't earn their keep in some way were used as breeding slaves, sent on suicide missions, or sacrificed to the goblin gods. With this, Libet had at least cemented her position as 'not being a waste of food.'

That said, this was just one day's work, and the day wasn't over. What should she do next?