The Tasty Offensive

The morning passed quickly, and Lucas Hall had caught 4 coral trapfish. With some extra effort in the afternoon, he was confident he could reach his goal of 10. His target for the day was clear: 10 fish, which would allow him to make 100 bottles of Dead Spider Potion, or 10 liters.

Soon, he received a private message.

The second trebuchet was finished and ready for trade. The seller was making them on the spot, selling one after another as they were completed. Each trebuchet was priced at 650 conch coins, a total of 4 trebuchets for 2600 conch coins.

Lucas had spent much of his savings, and now only had 1600 conch coins left. Fortunately, food and water were plentiful, so there were no worries in that department!

In the afternoon, Lucas managed to catch 5 more coral trapfish, and his eyeball fruit was also used up. Just when he thought he might not finish his task, he checked his net and was pleasantly surprised—there was an unexpected catch: one more coral trapfish!

He handed all the coral trapfish over to Seraphina and then made his way to the center of the Nightmare Star ship, preparing to find a spot to install the trebuchets.

When not installed, the trebuchet was small, like a miniature figurine, only a few centimeters in size, making it easy to move around. It seemed all ship equipment must be like this; otherwise, it would be impossible to transport them.

After surveying the area, Lucas decided to install the trebuchets symmetrically on both sides of the center of the ship. Now, the Nightmare Star finally had remote strike capabilities.

But Lucas had a more devious plan for these trebuchets.

He opened the chat channel, as usual, and sent a message: "Looking to buy fire-starting tools, such as lighters!"

Then he quickly followed up with, "Buying rotten fish, spoiled shrimp, rotten meat, decayed vegetable leaves, bad fruit, moldy bread! Only the smelly ones! Private message me if interested!"

"Are you really buying moldy fish?" someone asked in the chat.

"Yep, definitely!" Lucas replied.

"Dude, your taste is way too strong."

"Are you trying to make compost or grow crops on the ship?"

Lucas didn't feel like explaining, so he just kept buying at absurdly low prices.

The people selling the spoiled food didn't care much about the price either; they were just going to throw it into the sea, and even a single conch coin would be enough to close the deal.

In the end, Lucas bought hundreds of pounds of rotten fish and shrimp, a half-eaten, decayed sheep, and a pile of rotting vegetable leaves for just 100 conch coins.

Suddenly, a private message popped up from David Yates, the captain of the Steel Heart.

"Got some spoiled whale meat, do you want it? I'll send it to you directly!"

"Yeah, not too much though; my ship's small!"

"These three pieces didn't get thrown out in time, so I'll send them to you."

Soon, three huge pieces of whale meat, each about a meter in size, were delivered through the gacha machine. It was hard to figure out how that octopus-head with its fist-sized tentacles managed to spit out these enormous chunks of meat.

But don't question the mechanics of the gacha machine—just accept it.

Lucas looked at the deck piled high with rotten fish, shrimp, and meat, and he couldn't help but laugh. "This should be enough!"

He planned to use his Delicious Chef's Knife to transform this spoiled food into something delicious, then coat it with Dead Spider Potion and launch it at the island using the trebuchets!

This strategy was called... The Delicious Poison!

"Ugh, it stinks! What are you doing?" Seraphina exclaimed, pinching her nose as she came out of her lab.

Lucas struggled to haul the stinky food into the ship's cabin, much to Seraphina's displeasure. Her witch laboratory was connected to the ship's cabin, and the smell was unbearable.

"Don't worry, you'll find it delicious soon enough! But just so you know, don't sneak a bite. I've warned you!" Lucas grinned mischievously.

Seraphina seemed to understand what he was up to. She wrinkled her nose, put on the bird-beak mask she had bought from the laboratory, and went back to work.

The two worked together.

Seraphina focused on making the poison.

Lucas took charge of making the spoiled food edible again. He divided the food into one-pound portions, wrapped them in cloth, and turned them into ammunition.

There were over a thousand pounds of spoiled food, and after wrapping everything, he had 1100 portions.

It was deep into the night now, and the cabin was full, but instead of a stench, a mouth-watering aroma filled the air. This was the effect of the Delicious Chef's Knife.

The knife wasn't very strong in combat, but it was incredibly dangerous in the right hands. In fact, Lucas thought this chef's knife was even more dangerous than all of his relics combined.

Even Lucas himself had to be extra careful. If he wasn't careful, he might end up eating some of this "delicious" concoction.

"The potion's ready!" Seraphina handed him 104 bottles of Dead Spider Potion.

"Thanks! Go ahead and get some rest. I'll stay up and work a bit longer," Lucas instructed.

"Do you want me to help?" Seraphina asked.

"No need, I'm afraid you won't be able to resist eating too much!" Lucas teased, rejecting her offer.

The truth was, he hadn't told Seraphina that the strange, appetizing smell of the rotten food could lower a person's sanity.

Lucas was fine, as his high sanity resistance meant that even if his sanity dropped, he wouldn't go mad.

But Seraphina had less than 60 sanity, and if she went insane... she might just end up devouring all of it.

Once Seraphina left, Lucas used 10 wood to craft a simple wooden barrel and poured the Dead Spider Potion into it. There was just over 10 liters, enough to fill half the barrel.

He submerged the cloth-wrapped rotten meat and vegetable leaves in the potion and let it sit overnight to marinate.

The Dead Spider Potion had been turned into 462 "rotten meat" projectiles.

The barrel was now dry, with not even a drop of the potion left. The remaining rotten food would be used tomorrow. After all, he could still fish for more coral trapfish and make more potion.

Looking at the weather forecast, Lucas realized there were only two hours left until sunrise.

Time was flying by.

Tomorrow would likely be a day of exhaustion!

"I really need to push Seraphina to make some recovery potions soon. The side effects of the stimulant potion are awful!"

He went to sleep for a quick nap before dawn. In the two hours of sleep, Lucas had a vivid nightmare.

Though he couldn't clearly remember the details, one thing was for sure: the nightmare had a strong presence. It seemed to be about a giant spider, its size impossible to measure... but whenever he tried to recall it, his head throbbed painfully, and he felt like he was going to vomit.

"Is there something that terrifying on this island?" Lucas thought, shuddering. He was even more determined to poison those spiders now.

Checking his energy, it was below 70, but Lucas wasn't planning to go on the island today, so it would be enough for now.

He was close to the island now, less than 50 nautical miles away.

The Nightmare Star, towing the still-undismantled large sailboat, had been sailing for less than two hours and was nearing the island.

Along the way, Lucas didn't forget to fish.

He sent the new three coral trapfish to the laboratory, then used a large cloth to transfer the 462 "rotten meat" projectiles to the center of the ship.

"Let me give you all a meal," Lucas grinned, sending the "delicious" projectiles into the dense forest.

The trebuchets worked decently, throwing the one-pound projectiles about 400 meters.

Though the island itself had a five-kilometer radius, this range was still on the outskirts. But Lucas believed the spiders would be drawn to the scent and come to him!

The cloth used to wrap the food wasn't sturdy, so when the projectiles landed, they would explode, spreading rotten meat and vegetables everywhere. Multiple spiders would feast on each one.

After launching ten or so bags, Lucas heard movement in the forest. The sound came from large creatures moving through the underbrush.

"It's working!" Lucas thought, shifting the Nightmare Star to different positions and firing again.

After launching all the projectiles, Lucas noticed something strange—several spiders had noticed the Nightmare Star and were charging toward it.

They came in all sizes—some no bigger than a hand, others nearly a meter long, with long, spindly legs that made Lucas shudder.

Among them, there was one particularly large spider, at least three meters tall, with a decayed human torso on its head, a gruesome sight.

[You've seen an abnormal creature, your sanity decreases by 5.]

"What the hell is up with that spider?" Lucas wondered, his heart racing.