The Gluttonous Guest

This giant seemed capable of accelerating its regeneration by consuming things.

After eating a tree, new flesh buds began to grow on its face, as if reconstructing its features, though they looked completely different from before.

Lucas Hall made another cut in the ground with his chef's knife.

The giant immediately ran over and began eating the soil, digging a large hole.

"Anything can be eaten?"

Lucas didn't believe it. He cut a protruding rock, exerting some force to leave a white mark.

The giant immediately pounced, grabbed the rock, and began to gnaw on it, not hesitating to shatter a few teeth.

Strangely enough, the hard rock became soft under its saliva and could gradually be eaten.

Lucas furrowed his brows...

This giant seemed to be able to digest anything—wood, soil, and rocks—with incredible digestive power.

But it seemed to have little ability to distinguish what it consumed. As long as something emitted a sweet scent, it would gnaw at it desperately, no matter what it was!

So... what would happen if the giant discovered it was the tastiest thing?

Lucas narrowed his eyes, a cold glint flashing, and his chef's knife flew through the air, embedding itself in the giant's flesh.

Immediately, the giant stopped gnawing on the rock and began sniffing around like a dog, finally locking onto Lucas.

It then bit down on Lucas' left hand with such force that it severed his left hand, then his left arm, and finally his right hand.

[Scene is gruesome. Your sanity decreases by 10.]

The giant ate its own arms, gnawing off its feet and half of its lower leg.

Then, its neck began to stretch, and it tried to bite its own torso.

Lucas couldn't watch any longer and fired from a few meters away.

After a misfire, the flintlock pistol fired again, hitting the giant in the forehead.

After that, Lucas shot once every ten seconds.

After seven or eight shots, with a few more misfires, the giant's brain was finally shattered, and it fell silent.

Seraphina had been recording the process.

She had known that the giant was no longer a threat by the time Lucas used the chef's knife on it.

She had originally planned to stop him from shattering the giant's brain.

After all, a complete brain was more beneficial for dissection.

However, without breaking its skull, she couldn't think of another way to kill the giant, so she stayed silent and watched.

After the giant's death, large amounts of corrosive fluid flowed from its body, burning the ground with white smoke rising.

"These fluids feel like its stomach acid," Seraphina speculated, collecting some of the stomach acid in a glass vial.

But strangely, this acid didn't seem to be able to digest glass—at least, not yet.

The two wandered around the area for a while until most of the fluid had flowed away. Lucas then used a stick he found on the roadside to scrape the chef's knife clean.

After washing it with some fresh water, the knife's properties had changed. It seemed severely corroded.

[Name: Corroded Gourmet Chef's Knife (Damaged)]

[Type: Relic]

[Quality: Ordinary]

[Description: Soaked too long in acid, this knife is severely corroded, no longer sharp. It has a small chance of making the things it cuts more delicious.]

"This weapon's done for..." Lucas said, a bit heartbroken. Though this chef's knife was dangerous, it was a very strong piece of equipment when used properly.

It withstood the hits from his flintlock pistol, but not these acidic fluids.

Of course, it might be because weapons don't get damaged in player vs. player combat.

To take the giant's body, Lucas and Seraphina began digging the ground and covering the giant's body to reduce the corrosive effects.

They then tied it up with makeshift ropes and prepared to drag it back to the ship together.

During this process, Lucas also gathered information on the giant.

[Name: Gluttonous Guest (Li Rong)]

[Description: A human mutated by deep abyssal corruption with a tremendous digestive ability, but caught in an endless hunger.

Can be placed into the monster gacha machine.]

Lucas noticed the key phrase—"sanity too low."

This meant that when sanity drops too low, the human body undergoes a mutation, turning into something inhuman!

That was terrifying!

Lucas often ignored his sanity value, thinking it didn't matter too much, and even added points to it.

But if it caused mutations, then things were very different!

He didn't want to stop being human!

Thankfully, his sanity had never dropped below 10 so far.

Sanity 10 seemed like a critical point—a line between being human and being something else.

Below 50, people go mad; below 30, they start having suicidal tendencies; below 10, they definitely transform into monsters!

Perhaps those who chose to commit suicide with sanity below 30... weren't wrong after all!

At least they would die while still human, instead of turning into a monster.

But Lucas didn't know that lowering his sanity to accelerate the mutation was, in itself, a form of suicide.

Lucas shared his thoughts with Seraphina, and she agreed with him.

No matter what, sanity must not drop below 10!

After spending some time and losing three makeshift ropes, the two finally dragged the Gluttonous Guest's body to the shore.

Once they were on the ship, they could use the grappling hook to pull the body into the ship's hold.

Lucas checked the time—it was less than five hours until sunset.

He decided to halt his exploration and not go further into the island, instead focusing on gathering the corpses of the dead Fire Silk Spiders.

Seraphina went into the lab, eager to dissect the giant's body. Lucas knew she probably wouldn't follow him if he called.

So, Lucas went alone back to the island, focused on collecting spider corpses.

These corpses could be divided into three types: juvenile, adult, and giant.

The juvenile ones couldn't be used in the gacha machine.

The adult ones could.

And the special giant Fire Silk Spider was naturally also usable.

[Name: Giant Fire Silk Spider Monster (Evolving)]

[Description: A rare individual of the Fire Silk Spider Monster with the potential to evolve. It can undergo a life-level transition through human transplantation.]

Lucas found only one giant Fire Silk Spider Monster.

He found 20 adult Fire Silk Spiders.

The rest were mostly juvenile spiders, and they were especially numerous. Fortunately, they all had some fire silk, which could be used to make clothes.

In total, he collected 327 units of Fire Silk Spider silk (not including the adult spiders).

By the time he finished, it was nearly evening.

Lucas returned to the Nightmare Star ship.

He first tried to use the adult spider corpses to upgrade the ship but was told it failed.

[This is a beast and cannot be used for upgrades.]

It seemed that the world classified monsters into categories. Only the more sinister ones were considered Abyssal Demons.

The giant spiders were simply classified as beasts.

Only the giant Fire Silk Spider Monster was categorized as an Abyssal Demon because it could integrate with humans.

In that case, he'd have to rely on the gacha machine!

Lucas rubbed his hands together, preparing to use the 20 adult Fire Silk Spider corpses for the gacha, while also messaging Seraphina.

"Seraphina, are you sure you don't want to try the gacha? Your luck seems better than mine!"

"Leave me alone!" Seraphina was busy dissecting the Gluttonous Guest and didn't want to be disturbed.

Lucas shrugged.

Her loss!

But Lucas still left her two chances, mainly to verify the gacha machine's output rules.

Because the first two pulls were almost guaranteed to get something.

But Lucas wasn't sure if their chances were independent of each other, so he had to test it out!

Lucas fed the flesh into the gacha machine, pulling only one item at a time.

[You received Insect Shell Heart Shield]

[You received Silk Sack]

[You received Wood *3]

The rest were basic materials and some Sea Snail Coins, with only one additional Bronze Material Chest.

Altogether, he got Wood *138, Cloth *112, Stone *10, Steel *1, Sulfur *21, Crystal *1, Sea Snail Coins *100.

If it weren't for the treasure chest, the last dozen pulls would've been a complete waste.

It might've been better to just make Fire Silk Sweaters from the adult spider corpses!

However, Lucas had now fully understood the rules of the gacha machine.

For the same type of monster, the first two pulls were nearly always successful, but after that, it became much harder to get anything.

As for the golden legendary items... they probably only came from the luckiest players, and it didn't matter how many pulls they had.

[Name: Insect Shell Heart Shield]

[Type: Treasure]

[Quality: Excellent]

[Description: A heart shield made from the hardest insect shell of a Fire Silk Spider's head. Offers excellent protection.]

[Name: Silk Sack]

[Type: Consumable]

[Quality: Good]

[Description: A sack that can expel spider silk when squeezed. Stronger than ordinary rope and can bear up to 500KG. Lightweight with a strong adhesive quality, it can bind enemies. It has a capacity of 100/100 but is sensitive to fire.]