Leveling Up By Surviving Alone - L.U.B.S.A Chapter 36

– The Watcher regains consciousness.

– He jumps up and down, asking if everything is okay and what should be done.

“Brother, you woke up quickly! I’m fine! Although there’s still a ringing sound in my ears…”

Ji Yeonwoo began explaining his condition.

Hearing this, Kim Kkoko felt relieved.

If that was the case, then what he had seen was indeed real. He hadn’t been mistaken.

But the Watcher was different.

– He tells them to wait a moment.

Ten minutes pass.

– He explains that pufferfish toxin is a neurotoxin with an incubation period ranging from 20 minutes to 6 hours.

– Initially, the lips and tongue become numb before it spreads to the limbs.

– There is no specific antidote, but the kidneys can filter and expel it, meaning that as long as they endure for about six hours, survival is possible!

Of course, an average person would be paralyzed and die before then, but Ji Yeonwoo was different.

“Wow… You’re really a walking encyclopedia. Totally amazing!”

– He says that’s enough and that if they want to eat the dish, you should wait about an hour.

“Alright, Brother!”

Ji Yeonwoo was aware of his current state through the notification sounds—his body was repelling the toxin.

Waiting would likely be meaningless.

But he couldn’t simply ignore the Watcher, who was worried about him.

Besides, time was something they had plenty of in this place.

Waiting wasn’t difficult.

So, he waited.

Inside his head, the notifications repeatedly told him that his purified blood rendered the tetrodotoxin ineffective. However, as time passed, he became able to filter out the constant sound, like how one unconsciously controls their breathing muscles.

One hour later.

Ji Yeonwoo was completely fine.

“I think we can cook now!”

– He says he’s really relieved.

– He says he’s truly, truly relieved!

“Phew, Brother. Thank you for always worrying about me!”

In gratitude, Ji Yeonwoo began cooking seaweed soup.

It was the Watcher’s birthday.

As the seaweed soup bubbled, its ingredients fully infused, making it even more flavorful than before. Ji Yeonwoo presented the steaming bowl to the Watcher.

– The Watcher says it’s incredibly delicious.

– He says it’s the best birthday meal he’s ever had.

– He thanks Ji Yeonwoo for celebrating his birthday.

– He confesses that he thought this year would be a lonely one since he was alone.

“Ah… Hehe. I’m glad I could be here for you, Brother.”

– Your pet, the Watcher, has gained +3 affection.

– Watcher’s affection: 78

– He asks when your birthday is.

– He promises he will celebrate it for you.

“My birthday? Hmm… It’s still a long way off. It’s February 14th next year.”

Ji Yeonwoo’s birthday was on Valentine’s Day, February 14th.

As far as he knew, it was currently June, meaning there were nine months to go.

“Haha.”

‘Hmm… Will I even survive until then?’

Ji Yeonwoo was an optimistic person, but not a blindly hopeful one.

For example, if there’s half a glass of water left, he thinks positively: “There’s half left.” An optimistic person would think, “There’s still half left.”

A pessimistic person would say, “The glass is half empty.” A cynic would say, “There’s only half left.”

Ji Yeonwoo was not the hopeful type. Even as a joke, he couldn’t blindly believe everything would turn out well.

Of course, he didn’t say this aloud.

There was no need to dampen the mood.

However…

– The Watcher declares that the day will definitely come. He promises that he will personally gift Ji Yeonwoo chocolate when it does.

It might be from a man rather than a woman, but so what?

Ji Yeonwoo had received plenty of chocolates from women in his childhood anyway.

“Hahaha! Thanks for saying that, Brother! But for that to happen, I’ll have to get stronger, right?”

And so, the fugu dish preparation began.

Cooking fugu wasn’t anything complicated.

He simply prepared the seaweed soup separately, added the pufferfish meat, and simmered it again.

The dish contained plenty of pufferfish bones, meat, and even roe.

A pufferfish seaweed soup that would kill anyone else but had no effect on Ji Yeonwoo (for seven hours and twenty minutes).

Perhaps he was the only person in the world who could eat pufferfish roe in seaweed soup and live to tell the tale.

Thinking that, he took a sip.

Sluuurp…!

“Wow…”

The broth, infused with the previous ingredients, was incredibly rich.

On top of that, it had a distinct, sweet undertone and an intriguing aftertaste—not unpleasant at all. The meat was soft yet retained a chewy, bouncy texture. The more he ate, the more he got lost in the taste.

“No wonder people say it’s worth risking their lives for this flavor…!”

Ji Yeonwoo’s expression was one of genuine amazement.

The Watcher, watching him, became curious about the taste.

But…

– The Watcher says he’s curious, but he will never ask for it.

“Oh, come on! Even if you asked, I wouldn’t give you any!”

Kkokk!

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Kim Kkoko, however, had a different opinion.

He bit onto an empty soup bowl, slammed it on the ground, and repeatedly pounded it.

Thump thump!

“You want some of this?”

Thump!

“Are you sure you can handle it?”

Kim Kkoko was baffled.

Did Ji Yeonwoo really think he would die from eating such a weak toxin?

In the end, Ji Yeonwoo gave Kim Kkoko a serving of pufferfish seaweed soup, and upon tasting it, Kim Kkoko shivered in delight.

He didn’t get poisoned.

Instead, his horn glowed brightly for the first time in a long while.

He had leveled up.

“Oh wow, congrats!”

Kkokkooorrrk!

Kim Kkoko was ecstatic about his meaningful growth.

The Watcher, watching them, also felt satisfied.

Meanwhile, the system notification, which had only repeated “poisoned” and “repelled,” now played a different message.

– You have successfully cooked and eaten Rift Pufferfish (D+).

– Cooking satisfaction: 75%

– You may acquire one of the Rift Pufferfish’s skills.

1. Sturdy Teeth (D+)

2. Body Inflation (D) (Active)

3. Tetrodotoxin Immunity (C)

“Oh?”

Maybe because he had eaten a lot? The satisfaction didn’t reach 100%.

But the skills that came out were quite solid.

Of course, the Body Inflation skill in the middle wasn’t great. There was a question of whether the body would properly return after inflating. Human skin is different from pufferfish skin. If it ended with stretch marks, that would be fine, but if the skin sagged after using the skill once, it would be too depressing.

So, it’s a dangerous skill.

But Sturdy Teeth was a different story.

He had already benefited greatly from Sturdy Teeth this time.

‘If it weren’t for Sturdy Teeth, I wouldn’t have been able to bite and eat the bull shark.’

He might have to catch stronger creatures than the bull shark in the future. No, it will definitely happen. So, choosing Sturdy Teeth as a precaution is the right choice.

But….

Nevertheless, Ji Yeonwoo’s consciousness was already stuck on the third skill.

‘Tetrodotoxin immunity……!’

Tetrodotoxin.

The poison of a fish with four teeth.

In other words, it’s pufferfish poison from the name alone.

There are many creatures like sea snakes that have tetrodotoxin, but the only monster immune to that poison was the pufferfish.

Of course, he could eat it like now, after eating 100 magic kelp chips and being immune for 8 hours….

‘That’s tough….’

Right. When would he ever eat 100 of them?

Do you know what kind of situation requires detoxification?

Moreover, the next monster he needs to consume is a bull shark soaked in tetrodotoxin.

Although Sturdy Teeth is valuable, there will be many monsters with such skills in the future.

Ji Yeonwoo made up his mind.

Besides, it was the only C-grade skill.

You have learned Tetrodotoxin Immunity (C)(Passive)!

There was no change in his body.

Instead, the notification sound changed from ‘Your blood is too pure, so the poisoned toxin has no effect on your body.’

You gain immunity to tetrodotoxin.

Tetrodotoxin in your body has no effect.

“Hehe. I’m now immune to pufferfish poison!”

Ji Yeonwoo explained to the two what skill he had learned and reassured them that pufferfish poison would no longer affect him.

“Then now, it’s really time to eat that guy, right?”

Ji Yeonwoo’s gaze turned back to the beach.

There lay the corpse of the bull shark, with its tail fin cut off.

It seemed all the blood had drained, as the surroundings were no longer red.

“Hmm… I should butcher and eat it, right?”

Ji Yeonwoo had never butchered such a large shark before.

He had butchered a small shark once and knew that its body structure wasn’t much different from other fish… but he still didn’t feel confident or the need to properly butcher and eat that guy.

‘If I cook and eat the body parts, wouldn’t that be enough?’

Thinking that, Ji Yeonwoo naturally looked at the bull shark’s protruding dorsal fin.

That’s right.

The first menu that comes to mind when thinking of shark cuisine.

That is…!

“Shark fin soup…?”

Shark fin soup. Literally, a soup-like dish made using shark fins.

And for Ji Yeonwoo, who had worked at a sushi restaurant for two years, shark fin soup was…

‘How do you make it…?’

It was an unknown dish.

Because he hadn’t worked at a Chinese restaurant.

A completely unfamiliar ingredient!

But,

‘I have to eat it.’

The easiest dish to make is shark fin soup.

Ji Yeonwoo thought it would somehow work and approached the bull shark.

He changed his multi-tool knife to saw mode and started slicing the huge shark fin.

Kkokkko?

Kim Kkoko tilted his head.

He wondered what this pseudo-monkey would do to prepare the ingredients this time.

On the other hand, the Watcher seemed to know what Ji Yeonwoo was going to do.

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