Yang Yi turned the dial on the octopus vending machine embedded in his chest. A perfectly round capsule dropped out.

No golden light appeared.

He picked up the capsule and examined the information displayed:

【Name: Bow of Salt】

【Type: Relic】

【Quality: Supreme】

【Description: A bow made of salt. Arrows shot from it carry a withering effect that causes flesh to decay. It can shoot Salt Arrows. Targets hit will partially turn to salt and spawn Saltfolk. Can be used up to three times a day, with a 24-hour cooldown. Saltfolk will continue attacking until they absorb enough moisture. This bow absorbs moisture from its user’s body.】

“A bow, huh…”

Yang Yi studied the white longbow in his hand. It was entirely made of salt and felt gritty to the touch. Even the string was crusted over, resembling a strand of oily or damp hair coated in salt and then pulled taut.

He tested the feel of it, dry-pulling the bow a few times without worrying about it snapping. Meanwhile, he kept an eye on his body weight. Though it had already been slowly decreasing, the numbers began to drop more noticeably with each pull, about 0.1kg at a time.

It was clear the bow was drawing moisture from his body.

After a few more pulls, he began to feel distinctly thirsty. He then aimed the bow at the ocean and fired a Salt Arrow.

The skill didn’t require actual arrows; simply drawing the bow would generate a slender salt projectile.

He didn’t release it straight away. Instead, he examined the arrow closely while continuing to monitor his weight. It lacked an arrowhead, appearing more like a thin salt spike, something akin to a Salt Wedge, but even slimmer, not even as thick as a finger.

His weight continued to decline slowly. Once satisfied, Yang Yi released the arrow.

Thanks to his improved perception attribute, his archery was quite decent now. With the sea as it was, missing a fish would have been difficult.

The arrow hit a large ray splashing near the surface. Rather than piercing it, the arrow simply stuck, and a significant portion of the ray’s flesh crystallised into sea salt.

The ray gave a feeble struggle before dying outright, quickly devoured by the surrounding fish.

A humanoid figure of salt briefly appeared in the sea, then dissolved almost instantly. It posed no threat.

Saltfolk were nearly powerless in seawater.

But Yang Yi had faced them before and knew just how formidable they were on land, almost immune to physical attacks.

“Not bad. Strength 6 is enough to use it comfortably, but the side effects are pretty hefty…”

Yang Yi evaluated the weapon.

Just one Salt Arrow had cost him nearly a kilogram of weight, about two pounds. It wasn’t fat loss but dehydration. The weight would return once he rehydrated.

After confirming there were no hidden effects, Yang Yi shared the bow’s attributes with Suna and told her they could use it in turns. Continuous use would put too much strain on the body.

He stashed the Bow of Salt in his ring, planning to hand it over when she woke up.

The capsule, formed from shards of the Fruit of Bounty, had produced a top-tier item, potentially on par with the Elder of the Ice Nest.

If this wasn’t a fluke of bad luck, it suggested the two beings were not vastly different in strength. The Elder had only suffered such a defeat because it was countered by Burn with Me, just as the Salt Wedge countered the Fruit of Bounty.

Yang Yi rehydrated with fresh water, then casually netted a few plump fish, tossing them one by one into the Life Furnace and activating the Light of Life.

The remaining fish he placed in a wooden bucket, sealed with a lid and weighted down.

There was no need to worry about oxygen. The fat fish were incredibly resilient. They could survive without it, so they could serve as substitutes for the long-legged sardines used as fuel.

Yang Yi resumed his training. When low on energy, he lay down to rest; when he had energy, he exercised.

With his current physique, jogging back and forth was the most efficient method. It used minimal energy but burned plenty of calories.

Once the weakened state passed, his energy loss was not as severe. He still wasn’t back to his former level, but a seven or eight-minute jog was now within reach.

After several laps, Yang Yi noticed something strange. His stamina was recovering far faster than before.

Even accounting for the buffs from the Vital Coconut Refreshment and the Appetite Elixir, this level of recovery was abnormal. It was almost twice as fast as before.

Thanks to this, he was able to train much more frequently.

He kept going until dusk, stopping only once the sky had turned dark. By then, he was drenched in sweat, his entire body slick with fat. His clothes no longer fit properly, and sweat had soaked the deck beneath him.

His weight had dropped by 15 kg. But how much of that was sweat and how much was actual fat burned was hard to say.

Yang Yi let out a long breath and took a big gulp of water.

"Not a bad workout. Should I eat something to celebrate...?"

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, Yang Yi punched himself. The hardest part of losing weight was resisting your own desires.

He was starving now. Since waking, he had eaten nothing, only drunk water. But for better weight loss results, he was forcing himself to endure.

“I wonder if Suna can make a slimming potion. That would make things a lot easier…”

Just as Yang Yi was sipping fresh water, he noticed something strange about his status panel.

Until then, he had only been watching his weight. He had not paid attention to his experience points. But when he looked, his attribute experience had increased dramatically.

Strength and Constitution had both risen by nearly four hundred points, and Agility by over two hundred.

Previously, even a full day of training would only earn him around one hundred experience points. Only real combat usually improved attributes this quickly.

As he pondered this, the sound of a door opening broke the silence. Suna stepped out from the cabin and spotted Yang Yi slacking off near the ship’s central crystal ball.

Their eyes met. The air turned still for a moment.

“How many pounds are you now?” Suna asked first.

“Around four hundred and fifty,” Yang Yi replied.

“Good thing you’ve got a werewolf constitution. If it were a regular human heart, it would probably have given out by now.”

“You could have just said I’m fat. Why beat around the bush?” Yang Yi muttered, annoyed.

“I was complimenting your werewolf constitution.”

They dropped the argument.

Yang Yi handed over the Salt Bow from the capsule.

He had already messaged her privately with the necessary precautions. Firing arrows caused dehydration, especially Salt Arrows, which drained around one kilogram of water from the body each time. Overuse could lead to death from dehydration.

“Good, since you’re up, come to the lab. I haven’t had a chance to check your physical condition yet,” Suna said, walking ahead and entering the ship’s cabin.

“Oh, and you’d better control your food intake for now. Otherwise, forget about losing weight.”

She glanced back as she spoke.

“I know,” Yang Yi replied.

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