NOVEL NEXT chapter 44
Yang Yi came to on the metal table. He looked down at himself and saw a grotesque road map of sutures crisscrossing his body.
The sheer number of them was nauseating. He didn't even try to count.
It felt like some bored god had used him for sewing practice.
The lab was bathed in its perpetual, humming light. Outside, it was deep night.
"How long was I out?" he asked, his voice raspy.
"Thirty-five hours and seventeen minutes," Suna replied without looking up from her notes.
"It's the next day."
Yang Yi nodded, a slow, deliberate motion, and checked his activity log.
He’d been unconscious, so captain's authority had temporarily been transferred to his first mate.
On a two-person ship, that was Suna. It meant she’d had free rein.
It meant she was the one who had stitched him back together like a busted teddy bear.
He slid off the table and pulled on the pirate clothes that had been left folded nearby.
From a pocket, he fished out a can of healing spray—part of Hu Wei’s legacy. He gave the largest incision a spritz.
It was cool and refreshing, and the effect was decent, but the can was practically empty. Three sprays and it sputtered out.
After a moment's hesitation, he uncorked the bottle of pink potion.
Here goes nothing.
He chugged it down.
The taste was an unholy assault on his senses, like drinking a bottle of pure chili oil.
[You have consumed an Unknown Potion]
[HP restored by 20. Wound healing accelerated. Continuous HP recovery]
[Your wounds are itching uncontrollably. Sanity -20]
His Sanity plummeted to 17.
The world dissolved into a firestorm of itching. He hit the floor and started writhing like a maggot on a hot plate.
Through the haze of agony, he could feel his wounds knitting themselves shut.
Suna watched the entire spectacle, utterly fascinated, jotting down notes in her little book.
"So, how are you feeling?" she asked, her voice brimming with academic curiosity.
"I can see the scabs forming already. The efficacy seems quite high, wouldn't you say? On a scale of one to ten, what would you rate it?"
"…"
Yang Yi, drenched in sweat, glared at her with murder in his eyes. He wanted to scream a litany of curses that would make a sailor blush, but he couldn't open his mouth.
He knew if he did, some inhuman shriek would come out, and his dignity was already in tatters. He didn't dare scratch, either; that would just make it worse.
Fifteen minutes later, the itching finally subsided. He got to his feet, feeling surprisingly solid. His HP had jumped from the low 40s to nearly 70.
In terms of pure healing power, the stuff was better than holy water.
[Name: Potion of Regeneration]
[Type: Consumable/Potion/Unique]
[Quality: Fine]
[Description: An original creation of the witch Suna. Tastes like liquid fire. Brewed from water infused with healing pearls, powdered Murloc scales, and the flame-red lips of a Red-Lipped Eel. Restores 20 HP, deducts 20 Sanity, and provides continuous healing. Causes intense itching. If you can resist scratching, the effects are enhanced…]
He read the description, his face a mask of stone.
"I give it a zero," he said, his voice flat.
"Zero? How is that possible? The results are fantastic! Your wounds are already scabbed over!" Suna protested, clearly offended.
"You can't just ignore its effectiveness because you don't like the taste!"
"Ugh…" Yang Yi didn't know what to say. She was right. The potion was insanely effective. But the side effects were a special kind of hell.
"I'm sending you the item info. See for yourself."
He forwarded her the details.
"By the way," he added, "I'm going to the island. Time's up. I can't keep putting this off."
This last attack had been a final warning. The Spider's Kiss was getting impatient, shrinking his safe zone from two hundred miles to one hundred.
The next one would probably kill him.
"Actually, I've already developed a potion that can kill the spiders inside you," Suna announced, pulling out a vial of black liquid.
"Otherwise, I'm not sure I could have saved you this time."
"What is it?"
"My own special poison," she explained. "The raw materials came from the [Cystic Pufferfish] and that [Coral Cage Fish] you caught. I've formulated the toxins so they're minimally harmful to humans, but lethal to arachnids."
Yang Yi immediately took the bottle and examined it.
[Name: Spider-Bane Potion]
[Type: Consumable/Potion/Unique]
[Quality: Good]
[Description: An original creation of the witch Suna. A potent venom designed specifically for spiders. Low toxicity to humans, but do not consume in large quantities.]
"This can cure me?" he asked, a surge of hope rising in his chest.
"Unfortunately, no," Suna said, shaking her head. "It can kill the spiders, but only temporarily. Once your body metabolizes the poison, new spiders will appear. To get rid of them for good, you need to find the source and eliminate it."
"'The source'?"
"Exactly," she confirmed. "It’s a disease, when you think about it. Just one with a… fantasy twist."
He thought about it. She was right.
He walked out of the lab, grabbed a piece of black bread and a sausage, and washed it down with a [Vitality Coconut].
He hadn't eaten in almost two days. The food made him feel human again. As he ate, a thought struck him. He ran back to the lab.
"Suna, you said the poison is effective against spiders?"
"That's right…"
"How much can you make? Could it kill a giant spider? Like, something out of a city legend?"
"Yes. As long as its biological structure is classified as 'spider,' the potion will work. The main ingredients are from the [Cystic Pufferfish] and the [Coral Cage Fish]. We have plenty of the former, but only one of the latter. So, at most, I can make ten bottles, which is about a liter."
"So as long as we have more [Coral Cage Fish], you can mass-produce it?"
An idea began to form. He would poison the island's spiders, then he would go ashore.
The description of the fleece jackets was proof: a creature called the [Fleece Spider] had to live there.
The next day, Yang Yi woke up feeling completely refreshed. His HP was back up to 90. He checked the weather forecast.
Sunny, with a gentle sea breeze. A great day for fishing.
Location: Sea of Origin
Remaining Daylight: 9 hours
Temperature: 15~25°C
Wind: Level 3
He didn't waste a second. He grabbed his fishing rod, set up his net, and retrieved a few dozen [Eyeball Fruits] from the ship's storage.
They tasted awful, but they were the perfect bait. He cast his line into the deep sea.
[You have caught a Red-Lipped Eel]
[You have caught a Human-Headed Octopus]
[You have caught a Long-Legged Sardine]
"Holy shit! Since when can you catch these freaks in the deep sea?!"
Finally, on the fourth try, he got a bite.
[You have caught a Coral Cage Fish]
Yang Yi's eyes lit up. He speared the fresh catch and sent it straight to the lab.
At this rate, he’d have ten fish—and a hundred bottles of Spider-Bane—in no time. As he was fishing, he got a private message. It was from the catapult guy.
The first line was: "Are you serious?"
"No shit," Yang Yi replied instantly.
"Look, I'm not gonna lie to you," the guy wrote back.
"I've got the recipe to make these things. But at 500 a pop, I'm making zero profit."
"600 a piece. I'll buy four, right now. Take it or leave it."
Yang Yi knew he had him. The fact that the guy replied to his 500-coin offer meant it wasn't absurdly low.
It was probably right at the cost line. Another hundred should give him a decent margin.
Besides, who the hell was buying catapults when cannons were an option?
A few minutes later, the seller messaged back. "700. That's my absolute lowest. It takes ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ time to craft these, you know."
"650. Not a coin more. In two weeks, you won't be able to sell these things for 200."
The guy hesitated for a few minutes, then finally caved. The deal was done.