Leveling Up By Surviving Alone - L.U.B.S.A Chapter 35

“Cluuuck!”

Kim Kkoko also seemed to be asking the same question.

Ji Yeonwoo had no intention of dragging out his answer. He went and grabbed something right away, returning with it in hand.

– The Watcher asks what on earth is inside that mess tin.

“It’s fried kelp chips that neutralize pufferfish poison.”

“Cluck…?”

Question marks seemed to pop up above everyone’s heads.

—

As the sun set and evening approached, Ji Yeonwoo stood by the fire, heating oil in a brazier. Next to him lay neat squares of dried kelp.

Then—

“Now!”

He dropped the kelp into the hot oil, and it began to fry.

His real-time antidote against the pufferfish’s toxin was now in progress.

– The Watcher says he’s doubtful that this will really work.

“Cluuuck…!”

Both the Watcher’s voice and Kim Kkoko’s cries expressed deep concern. Kim Kkoko was still on her nest, about three meters away, watching Ji Yeonwoo nervously. But they couldn’t outright stop him, since he’d already explained his idea.

“It’ll be fine. As long as the info about these Magic Fried Kelp Chips is correct.”

During his battle with the bull shark, Ji Yeonwoo opened the third compartment of his mess kit, intending to have a quick snack. Inside was the fried kelp he’d brought for dessert.

It hadn’t helped him in the heat of that life-and-death struggle, but now it might just let him eat that poisonous pufferfish safely.

—

*[Magic Fried Kelp Chips]*

1. For 5 minutes, your blood is purified, granting 1% resistance to all status ailments (0/100)

—

He gains a 1% resistance to every status ailment for five minutes.

Obviously, one chip alone can’t do much. If a poison would kill him in 100 minutes, it might buy him 1 extra minute, at best.

But Ji Yeonwoo noticed the notation *(0/100)* and saw possibility there.

“I think the effect stacks.”

One chip gives 1% resistance, two chips give 2%… Otherwise, there’d be no reason to display (0/100).

So if he eats a hundred of them—

“Maybe I can get 100% resistance.”

…

He had 20 chips in that one compartment. That meant he needed to make 80 more.

And so, Ji Yeonwoo was now in the middle of frying enough kelp chips to reach the 100 mark—so that by devouring all of them, he could ensure his blood was completely purified.

Soon, well over a hundred *Magic Fried Kelp Chips* were piled in front of him.

He picked one up and popped it into his mouth.

Crunch!

Fried kelp chips are tasty to begin with.

He already knew that taste. But with magic added into the mix, the flavor became something entirely new, sending intense signals through the taste buds on his tongue.

“Wow… that’s good!”

Then a system alert:

—

– For 5 minutes, you gain 1% resistance to all status ailments (1/100)

—

That was expected. Now it was time to step into uncharted territory.

He took another piece of *Magic Fried Kelp Chip* and munched it.

Crunch!

—

– For 10 minutes, you gain 2% resistance to all status ailments (2/100)

—

“…!”

It worked!

He’d succeeded. And the duration even increased from 5 to 10 minutes.

Ji Yeonwoo continued eating the chips in rapid succession:

—

– For 15 minutes, you gain 3% resistance to all status ailments (3/100)

– For 20 minutes, you gain 4% resistance to all status ailments (4/100)

– For 25 minutes, you gain 5% resistance to all status ailments…

—

Crunch, crunch.

Crunch-crunch-crunch…

Ji Yeonwoo gobbled them down without pause. A small voice in his mind told him they were delicious and he should savor them, but he forced himself to keep chomping away as fast as he could.

– The Watcher marvels at how those endless chips keep disappearing into your mouth.

– He asks how you can eat so many, so fast.

Typically, no one could eat a hundred fried kelp chips at once. Even if they’re snack-sized, a hundred pieces would fill you up or at least get boring after a while. But thanks to Ji Yeonwoo’s seemingly tireless digestion, he could manage it without losing his appetite. The last chip tasted just as good as the first.

Chomp. Chomp.

Crunch-crunch-crunch!

– The Watcher has moved past admiration into outright astonishment.

– He gushes that when it comes to fried kelp chips, you could outdo any professional foodie with how blissfully and deliciously you eat!

“Thangk yhoo, bro—”

Even as he tried to speak, he kept shoving more chips into his mouth. Then, when the system alerts finally reached one hundred:

—

– For 500 minutes, you gain 100% resistance to all status ailments (100/100)

—

“Done… haah!!”

Ji Yeonwoo let out a weary groan, wearing the expression of someone who’d truly reached his limit.

Not even his powerful passive skills made eating a hundred chips easy. If the duration and resistance hadn’t steadily increased with each bite, he would never have tried such a crazy stunt.

“Huuuh…!”

Ji Yeonwoo wobbled to his feet and walked over to the food he’d placed near Kim Kkoko.

It was a single slice of the Rift Pufferfish’s fillet, the least-contaminated piece he’d managed to cut out. Kim Kkoko was guarding it diligently.

Ji Yeonwoo reached out.

Kim Kkoko watched him closely.

His hand kept moving.

– The Watcher shouts at Kim Kkoko, demanding to know why she isn’t stopping you.

“Clu…!”

Kim Kkoko did not peck at Ji Yeonwoo’s hand.

Because as far as she could tell, that pufferfish slice was still unbelievably toxic. She could sense a foul energy emanating from it like a noxious smoke.

She should stop him.

And yet, Ji Yeonwoo was radiating a greenish aura—pure energy swirling around his body.

Maybe, she thought, he can handle it…

At least that’s what her instincts were telling her.

So she allowed Ji Yeonwoo to pick up the piece of pufferfish and bring it to his mouth.

“Hoo…”

Of course he was scared.

Tetrodotoxin—no color, no smell, no taste, but absolutely deadly.

Until he actually ate it, he couldn’t be sure if he would die.

He suddenly remembered something from childhood:

One time, the power went out, and everything went dark. His little sister picked up two metal chopsticks and tried to stick them in an outlet.

They both knew it was dangerous, but the circuit breaker was definitely switched off. Ji Yeonwoo tried to stop her, and his stubborn sister insisted on doing it anyway—until he swatted her hand away and she fell back. It was Ji Yeonwoo who ended up coming into contact with the chopsticks.

Nothing happened, but he got scolded terribly for it.

His sister bawled so loudly that Ji Yeonwoo ended up taking the blame. She cried until she couldn’t even speak. She was a tomboy with a fearless streak, so seeing her that terrified made him more worried about her than about the punishment he was receiving.

But now he wondered:

What if she actually overreacted on purpose to get me in trouble?

“When I get back, I’m definitely asking her about that.”

And to make it back, he had to survive this.

He had to!

– The Watcher desperately asks if this is really going to be okay.

“It’s fine. I won’t die.”

Plenty of men have gone to their graves saying, ‘I’ll be fine, I’m not going to die.’

With that, Ji Yeonwoo put the slice of pufferfish in his mouth.

Gulp.

It was delicious.

Just like the fugu I ate when I was a kid!

Back then, the pufferfish had no poison—but this one sure did.

Now, the question was: what would happen?

Everyone held their breath.

—

– You have consumed *Rift Pufferfish (D+)* from the Monster Encyclopedia.

– You gain +10 Strength.

—

“Oh! My Strength went up—!”

—

– You have been poisoned by tetrodotoxin.

—

“My poison gauge went up—?”

“Cluuuuck!!”

– The Watcher foams at the mouth and collapses.

Hearing that Ji Yeonwoo had been poisoned was too much for him; he blacked out on the spot.

“Cluuuck!!”

Kim Kkoko cried out in agony too.

She blamed herself for overestimating Ji Yeonwoo, for failing to protect the helpful monkey-like human who always provided good food. She needed him to grow stronger, but if he died now, there’d be no more chance for evolution beyond what she already had.

She was furious with herself—and at the same time, a foreign emotion welled up in her ancient avian heart.

Sorrow, regret.

It wasn’t a physical wound, but it hurt her deeply inside.

Brief flashes of memory ran through her mind—short but pleasant times spent with that monkey-like person—flickering again and again. It felt unfamiliar, but not entirely new.

She had felt something similar when he collapsed after fighting the bull shark. She knew he’d eventually wake up, but still, she’d felt strangely sad then.

Now, that feeling was doubled, and tears threatened to form.

If Ji Yeonwoo had not—

“Hahahahahahaha!”

—suddenly burst out laughing—

the ancient bird might have shed tears for the first time in ages.

“Wahahahahahaha!”

“Clu-uck…?”

Kim Kkoko tilted her head. Had he gone mad in his final moments?

But that wasn’t it at all.

—

– You have been poisoned by tetrodotoxin.

—

When Ji Yeonwoo saw that message, his stomach dropped. He could feel his life flashing before his eyes.

Then the system’s next message turned his fear completely upside down.

—

– Your blood is so purified that the poison circulating within your body cannot take effect.

—

“Magic Fried Kelp Chips” aren’t exactly an antidote; they simply purify the blood so thoroughly that your resistance to all status ailments skyrockets. By scarfing down a hundred of them at once, Ji Yeonwoo raised that resistance to 100%—but it doesn’t neutralize the poison itself. It only stops it from harming him.

As proof:

—

– Your blood is so purified that the poison circulating within your body cannot take effect.

– Your blood is so purified that the poison circulating within your body cannot take effect.

– Your blood is so purified…

—

Again and again, the system tried to apply the poison, only for it to fail each time.

Which meant Ji Yeonwoo was perfectly fine.

For five hundred minutes.

In other words, for eight hours and twenty minutes straight.

 

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