Chapter 10: A New Skill—Have I Become Spider-Man?

Staring at the spider covered in hair, Xu Han hesitated to take a bite. But if he didn’t eat it, he couldn’t add the Venomous King Spider to his Gourmet’s Compendium! Gritting his teeth, he steeled himself. It’s just a spider, after all. Eat it!

With a casual slash of his dagger, he easily cut off a segment of the spider’s leg. The sight of the dense hair nearly made him gag. Suppressing his disgust, he slowly scraped off the hairy surface, then set up a grill. From his pack, he took out the seasonings he’d prepared: pepper salt, five-spice powder, chili powder, and regular salt.

He placed the spider leg over the flame and began to roast it slowly. Before long, a faint aroma of meat drifted through the air. Xu Han’s stomach rumbled hungrily as he sprinkled the seasonings over the roasting spider leg, swallowing back drool.

“It looks pretty good. Let’s try it.”

Crunch. The exoskeleton of the spider leg had been roasted until crisp and golden. With a gentle bite, it crackled like a potato chip. The meat inside was as tender as crab leg, soft and succulent, infused with the rich scent of pepper and spice. If he hadn’t known, he would have assumed it was a spiced crab leg.

A system notification chimed.

“Host has consumed the flesh of a Tier 1 Venomous King Spider for the first time: Gained 5 Constitution, 20 Agility.”

“Host has acquired the skill: Web Shot.”

Xu Han was stunned. His luck was off the charts! He’d actually received another skill.

Opening his status panel, he saw the newly added skill.

Web Shot LV.1: Shoots spider silk to attack enemies. Once ensnared, it is extremely difficult to break free. Cooldown: 2 minutes.

Xu Han frowned in confusion. Shooting webs was a useful skill, both offensively and defensively. However, if it worked like the Venomous King Spider and had to be shot from the mouth, wouldn’t that make him a literal Spider Demon? Hardly a flattering image.

As he pondered, he felt an odd sensation in his left hand. Raising his arm, he noticed a small hole at his wrist, no wider than an infant’s finger.

“Could this be the Web Shot? Isn’t this just like Spider-Man?”

Xu Han’s eyes lit up. He flexed his left wrist forward.

A slender thread of silk shot from the tiny hole, wrapping tightly around a tree ten meters away. With a firm tug, his body soared into the air, swiftly flying toward the tree and landing steadily beside it.

“I really am Spider-Man!”

Xu Han was elated.

He looked around for a new target. Soon, he spotted a massive python, at least fifteen meters long, coiled on a nearby tree trunk. The serpent’s cold eyes fixed on Xu Han, its upper body slightly raised, ready to strike at any moment.

He activated his Hunter’s Eye.

[Name: Forest Anaconda]
[Species: Python]
[Level: 8]
[Skill 1: Constriction LV.1 (Wraps around the enemy with its massive body, squeezing tighter and tighter until the enemy is completely crushed. Cooldown: 30 seconds)]
[Skill 2: Swallow Whole LV.1 (Opens its jaws wide and can swallow a full-grown adult. Once swallowed, the enemy is digested within ten minutes. Cooldown: 1 hour)]
[Skill 3: Sweep LV.1 (Sweeps its tail at the enemy, destroying everything in its path)]

Xu Han waited for his skill’s cooldown to finish.

The Forest Anaconda, however, had no patience.

Boom!

Its colossal body crashed down toward Xu Han. The spot where he’d stood was instantly left with a deep pit. As the Web Shot skill’s cooldown ended, Xu Han raised his arm, firing a thread of spider silk at the python.

The web bound the anaconda’s jaws. The serpent struggled to close its mouth, but the tough silk held fast, making it impossible.

Furious, the snake lashed its massive tail at Xu Han.

Raising his eyebrows, Xu Han was just about to activate his Dragon Scales to withstand the blow when the python’s tail struck him—only for his Ape King Leather Armor to absorb the impact and bounce him away.

Xu Han blinked in surprise, then realized what had happened.

Evasion!

His gaze fell on the Forest Anaconda below, a smile playing on his lips.

“Die!”

His body plunged down like a meteor, slamming directly into the serpent.

A flash of his blade.

The anaconda’s head crashed to the ground, its enormous body collapsing lifelessly.

Landing lightly, Xu Han quickly set about cleaning the corpse. As he cut a large slab of meat to roast, he noticed another piece of armor amid the blood and gore.

Another equipment drop?!

Delighted, Xu Han picked up the armor to check its stats.

[Snake Scale Soft Armor]
[Quality: Bronze]
[Constitution +20]
[Skill 1: Force Dispersal (Reduces incoming damage by 5%. Cooldown: 20 seconds)]
[Description: Soft armor made from snake scales. Extremely flexible, protects the wearer from some harm.]
[Level Requirement: 5]

The attributes were fairly ordinary. Xu Han shook his head—it didn’t compare to the Ape King Leather Armor. Still, bronze armor could fetch a good price at the shop.

Stowing away the armor, he brought the slab of anaconda meat back to the grill he’d set up earlier.

Soon, the rich aroma of roasting meat filled the air. Xu Han pulled the meat from the fire and dug in heartily.

The snake meat was much chewier than the spider’s, with a deep, savory flavor. Before long, he’d devoured it all.

A system notification chimed.

“Host has consumed the flesh of a Tier 1 Forest Anaconda for the first time: Gained 5 Strength, 5 Constitution.”

“Eating Tier 1 exotic beasts yields very few attribute points,” Xu Han sighed. If anyone else heard him, they’d probably beat him up! After all, leveling up only granted them a handful of attribute points, and some gained barely any at all.

The gap between people was truly vast.

Opening his compendium, Xu Han saw that he’d collected five types of exotic beasts. Only five more to complete the next collection quest.

What kind of reward would the next quest grant?

He continued hunting exotic beasts in the Shadow Marsh from dawn till dusk. He encountered both the Venom Scorpion and the Rock Lizard. After consuming their meat, his attributes increased only slightly, and he gained no new skills.

Now, only one beast remained to complete the Gourmet’s Compendium.

As evening fell and the sky darkened, Xu Han considered whether to return to the city and come back tomorrow to hunt for the last beast. The fact that he was so close made him itch with anticipation.

“Let’s give it a try. It’s only five o’clock—if I go a bit deeper, I might find another exotic beast,” he murmured.

He remembered from class that the Shadow Marsh housed at least a dozen types of exotic beasts, making it the most diverse region near East Sea City. The deeper he ventured, the higher his chances of encountering new species.

With that, he strode deeper into the marsh.

After a short walk, Xu Han finally spotted a crocodile’s head the size of a millstone resting silently beside a pool. Its pair of golden, vertical pupils stared straight ahead…