[Seeking Flowers and Evaluation Tickets!]
Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters was no ordinary school.
Most people might not recognize the name, but many had heard of the Mutant Academy.
Officially named Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, it was established by the X-Men to educate young mutants and offer them shelter.
Many young mutants lived there.
However, as a member of the X-Men Academy, Robert didn't feel particularly excited.
Why? Because he had somehow traveled to the Marvel Universe!
In this world, absolutely anything could happen.
Forget alien invasions—Earth exploding or the entire universe being reset wasn't even rare.
For a regular person arriving here, it was like being tossed straight into a nightmare.
"What kind of luck is this? How did I end up in this world?"
"Can things possibly get any worse?"
Even after spending quite some time here, Robert still had trouble fully accepting his new reality.
In his past life, he'd been a laid-back civil servant. His days were filled with sipping bubble tea and flipping through newspapers. Leisurely, undemanding, and peaceful.
Unlike many overworked office drones, his government job required very little effort. The pay wasn't impressive, but he was content and enjoyed the quiet routine.
His hobbies? Watching short videos of pretty girls on his phone—and fishing.
So how the heck did he wind up here?
"Well, I'm here now. Might as well make the best of it."
"Luckily, I landed in the Mutant Academy, which is still considered relatively safe."
"As long as no major catastrophe strikes, I should be able to stay alive."
He constantly reassured himself.
Though mutants were generally met with prejudice and discrimination, and the Mutant Academy wasn't exactly disaster-proof, it was still one of the safest havens available.
Compared to other parts of the Marvel world, the Academy was like a sanctuary. With the X-Men around, Robert felt that he could at least avoid the most dangerous situations.
He looked up at the clear sky. It was still early.
Without wasting time, he turned around, grabbed his small folding stool, and headed toward the back of the Academy grounds.
For the average student, the Mutant Academy functioned like any regular school.
Besides learning how to control their abilities, students followed a general academic curriculum.
But Robert? He'd already been through all this in his original world. He had zero interest in repeating it.
He snuck out quietly.
"Professor X must be loaded to own all this land."
"This lake definitely has some serious fish in it. Yesterday's failure must've been a fluke."
As he walked, Robert analyzed the situation, trying to stay positive.
In angler slang, "air force" meant returning empty-handed.
He'd read somewhere that Americans didn't particularly like eating freshwater fish. So maybe—just maybe—these fish had been left alone long enough to turn into spiritual beings.
A seasoned angler like him had no intention of leaving empty-handed again.
Fully confident, Robert slung his gear and rod over his shoulder and made his way to the lake behind the Academy.
In the movies, Professor X always seemed modest. But in reality, the guy was absurdly wealthy.
Not only did he own that ancient castle, but the huge tract of land around the school—including this lake—was also part of his private estate.
That lake in particular made Robert's inner fisherman grin from ear to ear.
This was his happy place.
"It's gotta be the feng shui here. Messing with my luck. I'll switch spots today."
After a moment of thought, Robert picked a different spot and set up his gear.
He'd sat all day yesterday without catching a thing. If not for finding a few wild fruits on the way back, he would've returned completely empty-handed.
He wasn't going to repeat that mistake.
As the saying goes, "No bait, no catch."
Robert was a professional angler—he'd never make such a rookie mistake.
He mixed his bait and wine-soaked rice evenly, then scattered the mixture into the water to attract fish.
He pulled out his 7-meter-long VIX fishing rod, which he'd purchased through a magically opened Portal, and began fishing with practiced precision.
One minute passed…
Ten minutes…
An hour…
Three hours…
Nearly half a day slipped by.
Robert's stomach began to growl from hunger.
But forget catching fish—he hadn't even seen a single fin.
"This is wrong."
"This doesn't make any sense!"
He was completely baffled.
"It can't be my technique. Could it be… there's no fish in this lake?"
Just as that thought crossed his mind, a massive rainbow trout casually swam by, less than a meter away from his rod.
It was moving so slowly that Robert suspected he could net it bare-handed.
"What the hell!?"
His mind nearly broke in that moment.
He was here, fishing seriously. Couldn't the fish show a little respect?
Just as he was about to start swearing, he felt a sudden pull on his rod.
The line twitched—something had taken the bait!
A rush of adrenaline surged through Robert.
He grabbed the rod tightly and started reeling with all his strength.
"This one's strong. Definitely a big one!"
"Bighead carp? Or another rainbow trout?"
His eyes lit up with excitement, muscles tensed, veins bulging.
He gave the rod a firm jerk.
Suddenly, a glowing golden orb burst out of the water and hovered mid-air.
"What the—?!"
Before he could react, the golden light shot forward and slammed directly into his chest.
[Ding!]
[Fishing System activated!]
[Fishing System bound successfully!]