Grand Voyage : Surviving on a Ghost Ship

Chapter 44 - Spiderbane Potion

Yang Yi checked his body and found it covered in stitched-up scars, so numerous he didn’t even want to count them. Night had already fallen, and the lab remained brightly lit.

"How long was I unconscious for?" Yang Yi asked.

"Thirty-six hours and seventeen minutes. It’s already the third day," Suna replied.

Yang Yi nodded solemnly and began reviewing the activity logs.

While he was out, the captain’s authority had been temporarily handed over to the first officer. With only two people aboard the Nightmare Star, the first officer was naturally Suna, which gave her full authority to perform surgery on him.

Yang Yi jumped off the metal table, put on the pirate suit that had been set aside, and retrieved a healing spray from the clothes. Hu Wei's legacy now finally came in handy.

He sprayed the larger wounds with it, feeling a cool and refreshing sensation. The healing effect was good, but since there wasn’t much of it, it was all used up after three sprays.

After some thought, he pulled out a pink magic potion, gritted his teeth, and swallowed it. The taste was unbearably spicy, as if he had drunk a bottle of chilli oil.

?You have consumed an unknown magic potion.?

?Health restored by 20. Wounds are healing rapidly. Health will continue to regenerate.?

?Your wounds itch intensely. Sanity -20.?

Yang Yi’s sanity plummeted to 17, and he began wiggling on the ground like a worm as his wounds quickly healed with each movement.

Suna watched him intently, taking detailed notes before asking,

"How do you feel? Your wounds are already scabbing. The effect seems impressive, doesn’t it? On a scale from 1 to 10, how would you rate this potion?"

Sweating profusely, Yang Yi glared at her angrily. He wanted to curse, yet he couldn’t open his mouth. If he did, he'd likely scream uncontrollably, which would be anything but dignified. He also didn't dare to scratch himself for fear of worsening his wounds.

After about ten minutes, Yang Yi finally stopped writhing and stood up as if nothing had happened. His health had recovered from just over 40 to nearly 70. In terms of effectiveness, the potion was even stronger than holy water!

?Name: Regeneration Potion?

?Type: Consumable/Magic Potion/Unique?

?Quality: Excellent?

?Description: A potion created by Witch Suna, spicy in taste, made with pearls soaked in healing water, powdered merman scales, and the secret essence of the eel. Upon consumption, health is restored by 20, sanity decreases by 20, health continues to regenerate, and wounds heal quickly. The wounds will itch intensely, but if you resist scratching, the healing effect will be even stronger.?

After reading the information, Yang Yi’s face turned grim, and he emotionlessly responded, "I give it 0 points!"

"0 points? That’s impossible! The effect was clearly great. Your wounds have already scabbed over!" Suna protested, clearly displeased. "You can’t just ignore the effectiveness because of the taste!"

"Uh…" Yang Yi had no retort.

To be fair, the potion’s effect was outstanding. Still, the side effects were truly unbearable.

"I’ll send you the details; you can see for yourself," Yang Yi said, forwarding the information on the Regeneration Potion to Suna.

"By the way, I’m planning to go ashore soon. Time is running out, and I can’t afford to delay any longer!" Yang Yi added.

The latest flare-up served as a warning.

The Spider's Kiss was urging Yang Yi to land on the island, shrinking the original 200-mile safety radius down to 100 miles. If he had another flare-up, it could mean immediate death...

"Actually, I’ve already developed a potion that can kill the spider inside you," Suna said, pulling out a black vial.

"What’s this?"

"My specially made poison! The ingredients come from the cyst-spiked pufferfish and the coral-caged fish you recently caught. The toxins are very mild for humans but highly toxic to spiders!" Suna explained.

Hearing this, Yang Yi immediately took the vial and examined it.

?Name: Spiderbane Potion?

?Type: Consumable/Magic Potion/Unique?

?Quality: Good?

?Description: A potion created by Witch Suna, designed specifically to be lethal to spiders. It is mildly toxic to humans and should not be consumed in large quantities.?

"Will this potion cure me?" Yang Yi asked excitedly.

"Unfortunately, no," Suna shook her head. "It will only kill the spiders inside you temporarily. Once the toxins are metabolised, new spiders will reappear. To completely solve the problem, you need to find the source of the spiders and eliminate it. That’s the only way to cure your condition."

"Condition?"

"Yes! Doesn’t it feel like a disease?" Suna asked.

Yang Yi thought about it and realised it did indeed resemble some kind of strange illness, albeit with a fantastical twist.

He left the lab, grabbed some food, and ate while sipping from a vitality coconut to rehydrate. He hadn’t eaten in nearly two days.

After having his fill, he suddenly remembered something and rushed back to the lab.

"Suna, you said the poison works well on spiders, right?" Yang Yi asked urgently.

"Yes, that’s correct."

"How much of it can you make? Would it be effective against a giant spider…like the ones in urban legends?"

"It would! As long as the creature’s biological structure is recognised as a spider, this potion will work. The main ingredients are the cyst-spiked pufferfish and the coral-caged fish. While the former is abundant, we only have one of the latter, so I can make at most 10 bottles, which would be about 1 litre in total."

"So, as long as we have more coral-caged fish, you can make more of this potion, right?"

Yang Yi had an idea. He planned to poison the spiders on the island before landing.

Based on the information from the fire-spun wool garment, it was clear there were creatures on the island known as fire-silk spiders!

The following day, thanks to a good night’s sleep, Yang Yi woke up fully refreshed, with his health back to 90. He checked the weather forecast.

Today’s weather: sunny with a gentle sea breeze; perfect for fishing.

Location: Sea of Origins

Remaining sunlight: 9 hours

Temperature: 15–25°C

Wind speed: Level 3.

Without a second thought, he grabbed his fishing rod and headed out. He set up his fishing net and retrieved several eyeball fruits from the ship's hold — leftovers from a previous catch that he hadn’t eaten. They tasted terrible and were only being used as bait for coral-caged fish.

Using the deep-sea method, with eyeball fruit as bait, Yang Yi began fishing.

?You caught a red-lipped eel?

?You caught a human-headed octopus?

?You caught a long-legged sardine?

"Holy Shit!"

"How did I catch a long-legged sardine in the deep waters?"

Finally, on the fourth attempt, he hit the jackpot.

?You caught a coral-caged fish?

Yang Yi’s eyes lit up, and he immediately skewered the fresh coral-caged fish with a wooden spear and sent it to the lab.

It wouldn’t take long for him to catch enough coral-caged fish to make 100 bottles of Spiderbane Potion.

As he continued fishing, he suddenly received a private message from the catapult guy.

The first line of the message read: "Are you still interested in buying?"

"Of course!" Yang Yi responded quickly.

"I won’t lie to you; I have the formula to make these catapults. Selling them at 500 Shell Coins each gives me no profit at all!"

"600 Shell Coins per catapult, and I’ll buy four in one go! If you’re up for it, let’s deal; if not, there’s no point in continuing this conversation!" Yang Yi replied immediately.

He had previously offered 500 Shell Coins per unit, and now the seller was responding. It meant 500 wasn’t too far off the mark, likely just around the cost price. So, Yang Yi added another hundred, which would leave enough of a profit margin.

Besides, there likely weren’t many players willing to buy catapults, as they weren’t as effective as cannons.

Soon, the seller messaged back.

"700 Shell Coins per catapult. That’s the lowest price I can offer, considering the time it takes to make them."

"650 Shell Coins, not a penny more! You know very well that in two weeks, no one will want these things, even for 200!" Yang Yi shot back.

The seller hesitated for a few minutes before finally agreeing to the deal.