Lucas Hall crushed the shark's eyeball beneath him with raw strength.
The shark released its bite in agony, but Lucas didn't let it off easily. He seized the ruptured eyeball, lifting the creature and smashing it into another shark's face.
With his power at an astonishing 8, Lucas could easily crush the shark's skull with his fists. But Lucas wasn't a fool. If he could beat them from a distance, he wouldn't engage in a brawl—at least, not right now!
Using his right arm for strength, Lucas leapt up, more agile than a monkey, landing effortlessly on the horizontal beam.
"From now on, it's my turn!" Lucas said coldly, aiming the dark barrel of his gun at the sharks below.
Bang! A shark was split cleanly in half.
"What just happened?" Seraphina stared at Lucas in disbelief.
Just a moment ago, Lucas was on the brink of death, but now, he had turned the tables in an instant. The turnaround was bizarre, almost surreal...
Seraphina's gaze turned heated and hungry as she looked at Lucas, as if she wanted to devour him whole and understand him completely.
Her look was so intense that it made Lucas uncomfortable. He quickly dismissed her with a half-hearted response, "Nothing. I unlocked a new ability."
"Ah, I see." Seraphina didn't press further.
Even if she wanted to, Lucas had no intention of explaining. It was his trump card, incredibly powerful, capable of allowing him to turn the tables when it mattered most. The side effects, however, were severe—a 24-hour weakness period. So, the fewer people who knew about it, the better.
On the other hand, Seraphina was somewhat shaken. Her own sanity had plummeted by over twenty points, and she had nearly succumbed to the urge to dissect Lucas with a dagger.
Thankfully, she held back, keeping her sanity just above 50.
"Seraphina, stay calm. Lucas is different. I need to observe him slowly..." she silently admonished herself.
Lucas had no idea what was going through Seraphina's mind. He drank two-thirds of the holy water and poured the remaining third on his wound. The effect was immediate; the bleeding stopped.
He took out his flintlock rifle and fired again. The first shot misfired, but the second shot hit, taking down another shark.
The sharks had grown increasingly frantic since they couldn't reach the two of them, and some had started gnawing at the mast, while others fed on their fallen comrades.
However, the mast was made of the strongest wood on the ghost ship—thick and robust. The sharks' jaws were far too small to break it in the short term.
But the danger remained.
Would the mast snap first, or would the sharks be killed first?
With over thirty sharks still unharmed, Lucas felt confident he could win this.
"Wait, no need to fire!" Seraphina suddenly called out to Lucas.
"Why?" Lucas turned his head toward her.
"Look, the cystic pufferfish toxin is starting to take effect," she pointed to a shark that had been shot in the eye earlier.
It was one of the first sharks hit by an arrow, now lying on the deck, its body twisted and unmoving. Soon, its corpse was devoured by its fellow sharks.
Lucas immediately understood.
"Cannibalism. This is common in insects. That's why some insecticides are designed to delay death, so the bugs return to their nests before they die, effectively killing an entire hive."
Seraphina explained.
"I see." Lucas nodded and pulled the trigger, taking down another shark. "But wouldn't firing speed up their deaths? The bullets don't cost anything, after all!"
"Do as you wish, just leave one intact for me," Seraphina replied.
After a few minutes, all the sharks were dead, with none remaining. The deck was littered with their bloody corpses, filling the air with a nauseating stench.
In his weakened state, Lucas took a long time to climb up the mast.
His health was now at 15, so he had to be careful—one wrong move and he could be on the verge of death, and then he'd be finished.
Seraphina had already descended.
She had picked out the largest, most intact shark carcass and began cutting it into pieces, preparing to store it in her magical storage.
"We've hit the jackpot! This should be enough for 70 gacha pulls!" Lucas's eyes sparkled.
He used to love the gacha system in mobile games.
"How about we split it?" Lucas looked at Seraphina.
"You go ahead and pull. One shark is enough for me." Seraphina said flatly, seeming uninterested in the gacha.
"That's too bad. Guess I'll have to do it for you then!" Lucas grinned and eagerly began slicing the shark carcass on the ground.
He'd cut some up, do a few pulls, and the bodies gradually disappeared.
Altogether, he did 72 pulls.
There were 74 devil sharks in total—one had been dissected by Seraphina, and another reserved for food.
To avoid poisoning from the toxins, Lucas chose the one that had been cut in half early on, as it hadn't been consumed by other sharks, making it safe for food.
Afterward, Lucas checked the course and the map, confirming there were no major issues, and then turned his attention to the 72 glowing orbs beneath the gacha machine.
He hadn't opened any yet, saving them for a big reveal.
What could be inside?
Lucas was filled with anticipation and began his pulls.
[You obtained 1 unit of steel.]
"What?"
[You obtained 200 seashell coins.]
"...."
[You obtained 5 units of wood.]
[You obtained 5 units of stone.]
"Ugh, seriously?!"
Lucas threw the wood on the deck, where it slowly disappeared and was transferred to the warehouse.
Did he need this stuff? No.
Where were the relics? The treasures?
At least some accessories would be nice!
As he kept pulling, Lucas gradually became numb and stopped expecting anything good. Most of the pulls were just basic resources: fresh water, steel, wood, cloth, even crystals.
There were also 12 black bread loaves, 5 sausages, and 3 watermelons...
Maybe the devil sharks were just too weak, not comparable to the sea monsters and drowned ones?
Or maybe... it was just bad luck.
By the time he had opened everything, Lucas had only gotten three somewhat decent items.
One was premium, one was good, and one was average.
[Name: Low-tier Fire Element]
[Type: Consumable/Material]
[Quality: Premium]
[Description: Can be attached to equipment to grant the power of fire.]
PS: Equipment can undergo re-enchantment, with the latest enchantment taking effect.
...
[Name: Glowing Red Fishing Net]
[Type: Tool]
[Quality: Good]
[Description: Can be placed on the side of the ship to catch unlucky passing fish. However, the red glow of the net makes normal fish avoid it. This red light... you should have seen it before.]
...
[Name: Sharkskin Swimsuit]
[Type: Treasure]
[Quality: Average]
[Description: Increases swimming speed by 25% and reduces swimming stamina consumption. It can make you an easy winner in any swimming contest!]
Lucas pocketed these three items.
The abysmally low drop rates made him think of some rather unpleasant memories.
But then, he had a sudden thought.
Could it be that if the same type of monster was submitted multiple times, the gacha drop rate would plummet?
The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. The system might be encouraging players to kill different monsters they hadn't seen before.
Testing this theory was easy—he just needed someone else to do a pull.
Without hesitation, Lucas pulled Seraphina over and handed her a fish fin to try out.
The devil shark that was meant for food was now safely set aside since there was no need to risk eating it raw, especially with the plentiful black bread they had.
"Try it," Lucas urged.
If Seraphina got something good, it would confirm his theory: repeatedly submitting the same monster's corpse would drastically reduce the drop rate.
If she didn't get anything, well, it could be pure luck, and maybe his earlier pulls had just been a fluke.
Seraphina tossed the fish fin in, and the gacha machine's octopus-headed eyes suddenly emitted golden light, even the tentacles turning golden.
"Wow! A golden legend!"
Lucas almost thought he was hallucinating.
A golden orb shot out from the octopus's mouth, and Seraphina picked it up...
"Is this... the difference between the lucky and the unlucky?" Lucas muttered, flushed with frustration. For the first time, he felt the game was unfair—so deliberately malicious!