I Don't Agree to the Terms

Wang Qi swallowed the last bite of Living Maggot Cheese without a change in his expression. In the beginning, he had indeed found it quite difficult to stomach, even just to take in his mouth.

But now it didn't bother him at all; he had grown used to it, and one wonders how Wang Qi had hypnotized himself.

This sight left Gu Shanhai somewhat stunned—it really took a tough person to do this. If it were any other protagonist, they might have chosen not to acquire such Transcendent abilities rather than eat such a thing, as most protagonists either have an ethereal aura or the appearance of a noble son and are quite concerned about their image. To them, eating Living Maggot Cheese would be akin to a humiliation.

"Is this, 'malicious assault'?" Wang Qi felt a new surge of Transcendent power within him and couldn't help but show a hint of joy on his face.

Malicious assault was using one's ill will against an enemy to inflict mental harm through spiritual power, causing the enemy's mind to fall into a state of confusion. Currently, at most, he could confuse an enemy for 1 second along with causing some spiritual damage, but the stronger the enemy, the weaker the effect.

Upgrading this malicious assault was simple—find another Living Maggot Cheese +1 to eat, and then he could enhance its power.

Besides that, his spiritual power had also increased slightly. With the current quality of his spiritual power, he could release it three times at full capacity. Any more, and he would suffer from headaches or even mental breakdowns.

"Spiritual power is too low; I need to find a way to raise it," Wang Qi said somewhat helplessly. Although eating Living Maggot Cheese allowed him to acquire malicious assault and boost his spiritual power a bit, it was still far too little.

"If your spiritual power is too low, you can eat banlan root instant noodles," Gu Shanhai said. "This stuff increases spiritual power, though not by much. You'll need to eat several bowls."

Such foods, which were not so dark in terms of color, fragrance, and taste, would not grant corresponding Transcendent abilities, but they could still enhance some abilities.

If he had managed to eat the stinky tofu egg back then, he might have acquired a powerful Transcendent ability.

Hearing this, Wang Qi was slightly surprised, "I thought this kind of spiritual boost was temporary. It's actually permanent?"

"If you eat just one bite at a time, how can it be permanent? You should be glad to get a temporary boost," Gu Shanhai retorted, finding it laughable that Wang Qi treated the banlan root instant noodles like a portable charger.

"If you keep eating it bit by bit like this, any chance of a permanent effect will be eaten away. The permanent spiritual power boost you can get now has already been significantly reduced."

Wang Qi's face shifted subtly upon hearing this, "There's such a rule? Then I have to eat it all at once; I can't leave any."

Then he took out the banlan root instant noodles and slurped them down, soup and all.

Feeling a cooling sensation in his mind, he asked curiously, "By the way, there won't be a problem with this, right? It's been sitting here for almost a month."

"You're asking whether there's a problem after you've eaten it? Did you taste any sourness or strange flavors?" Gu Shanhai felt that Wang Qi might be a bit dimwitted.

A kind of clear-cut stupidity.

It might be due to a lack of experience.

"No, nothing like that. Then it should be good, befitting something produced by Divine beings," Wang Qi reflected for a moment and felt everything was fine. After all, his spiritual power had increased. It didn't matter if he got diarrhea later—besides, he had consumed cosmic observer sect delicacies that enhanced his constitution. Even diarrhea couldn't kill him.

"Your resistance to dark cuisine has greatly increased lately; you can eat it without batting an eye now."

"If this continues, won't you be able to eat the stinky tofu egg in time!" Gu Shanhai stated with a tinge of amazement in his voice, truly fitting of a protagonist to develop such a tolerance.

"These cuisines are all unenhanced, but if you can't even endure this much, how will you get stronger later, and how will you conquer the seas?" Wang Qi answered very calmly.

During his time at sea, he had been repeatedly analyzing his mistakes. Even though he found no solutions, he understood one thing—that the gap between himself and others was simply too vast. His blood boiled for the sea venture, yet knew nothing, while others had entire teams leading them. He had only a Divine being at his side... oh, which indeed gave him an advantage several times over theirs. But the enemies he faced were also very strong.

Thus, he forced himself to continually consume dark cuisine, which had started from the size of a millstone of Living Maggot Cheese—not a mere dinner plate. From the initial retching and nausea to later numbness, this was how he had gained the power of malicious assault.

"Fine, it's a pity we no longer have that stinky tofu egg. Otherwise, if you could keep eating it, your strength could grow even more," Gu Shanhai expressed his regret.

"I plan to offer another Tribute. Oh, by the way, do you have a way to get me off your main body's blacklist? I don't really want to eat dark cuisine anymore," Wang Qi was able to eat dark cuisine without changing his expression, but if he could eat delicacies, why should he eat dark cuisine? He bore no grudge against himself.

"That's not really possible. Put yourself in these shoes: someone feeds you five corpses in a row, then shoves a big lump of mud in your mouth, followed by rotting wood and spoiled fish. If you were in that position, would you forgive that person?" Gu Shanhai indicated that Wang Qi was being too optimistic; he should just honestly eat the dark cuisine and forget about the delicacies.

Wang Qi's expression became awkward upon hearing this; it seemed to make some sense.