While Everyone Panicked, I Upgraded My Raft

Chapter 160: Chapter 147: Void Beast

Rowan Rhodes had no idea how the various zones were currently evaluating her. She had already begun exploring Void Isle.

Just like the previous islands, the viral natural disaster did not directly affect the landmass, but the toxic air condition still persisted. Relying on her headlamp, Rowan got a fairly clear view of the situation on Void Isle. Even though she retained memories of the island from her past life, they had grown somewhat blurry. Naturally, she needed to reacquaint herself with the environment. However, compared to her former anxiety, she navigated the island with far more ease and confidence now.

Walking her old path step by step, she was living an entirely different life.

Finally, Rowan arrived at a cave where she had once encountered a Void Beast by chance. The cave was barren inside, with only a few scattered Stones on the floor. Rowan’s gaze immediately locked onto the Void Beast curled up in the corner. It was a tiny black ball, completely covered in fluff, looking exactly like a lump of coal.

Rowan’s arrival clearly caught its attention. In a flash, its eyes snapped open, staring curiously at Rowan.

Rowan breathed a soft sigh of relief. In the early days, Void Beasts had been friendly to players, but almost every player’s first instinct upon seeing one was to kill it on sight. Once they discovered that killing it yielded Space Stones, the slaughter became entirely ruthless. Void Beasts were notoriously tricky to deal with. After they realized humans were hostile, finding them became harder than scaling the heavens.

But this was also the stereotypical mindset the Sea Survival Game had ingrained into the players: that they could only obtain resources by killing animals. Therefore, players rarely bothered to distinguish whether an animal possessed self-awareness. The Void Beast was exactly that—a Wisdom animal with its own independent thoughts.

”Hello,” Rowan greeted the Void Beast warmly, pulling herself from her memories. Naturally, she activated her Skill: Nature.

Rowan truly felt that this Skill was a massive help. After all, being able to converse with animals bypassed a great deal of miscommunication. Take the Seagulls and Big Turtles, for instance. If they couldn’t communicate, interacting with them would have been incredibly troublesome, falling far short of the mutual understanding they shared now.

”Huh? Are you talking to me?” the Void Beast asked in astonishment, having already bounded over to Rowan’s side.

”Yes,” Rowan replied.

”Where did you come from? I haven’t seen humans like you before,” the Void Beast said in a cheerful, bouncy tone.

Humans like them? Rowan’s heart skipped a beat. Were there other humans? It seemed that her first chat with the Void Beast was yielding quite a substantial amount of information!

”We are players who just entered the Sea Survival Game. I’m the first to set foot on Void Isle, but more players will be arriving later,” Rowan explained simply.

”What are you looking for on the island? I’m very familiar with Void Isle!”

”Oh, I came to trade with you for Space Stones,” Rowan said directly.

”Eh, you actually know I have Space Stones???” the Void Beast asked, sounding somewhat shocked.

”I know quite a lot of things. Do you want to visit my raft as a guest first? We are currently in the middle of a viral natural disaster, and my Anti-toxic Equipment’s Durability is almost depleted,” Rowan continued to tempt it.

Her ultimate goal from the very beginning had been the Void Beast itself. After all, if the Seagulls and Big Turtles could become her pets, perhaps the Void Beast could too. If she truly managed to recruit it, she might have an endless supply of Space Stones in the future. Of course, the most important reason was that she simply liked Void Beasts.

”Sure!” the Void Beast agreed without hesitation. It then hopped directly into Rowan’s arms, not acting like a stranger at all.

Rowan was rendered speechless. In silence, she cradled the Void Beast in her arms and began the trek back.

Upon returning to the raft, the Void Beast hopped out of Rowan’s arms of its own accord, gazing around curiously. Seabird One rushed over immediately.

”Master, who is this?”

”This is a Void Beast. It’s a... little friend who has come to visit as a guest,” Rowan made the Introduction.

As she spoke, Rowan walked over to the living area and began laying out an array of delicious food. The Void Beast had been giving an Introduction of itself to Seabird One, but upon catching the scent of the food, it sprinted toward the dining table.

”Wow! So much delicious food!”

”It’s all to treat you. Eat as much as you like,” Rowan said generously.

She had far too much gourmet food on hand. Just feeding herself, the Seagulls, and the Big Turtles was more than manageable. She had plenty to spare. When one had an abundance of resources, one naturally became generous.

”Thank you, human! You’re so nice!” The Void Beast leaped onto the table and began to gorge itself. In between bites, it would happily chirp a word or two at Rowan. ”Delicious.”

Watching the little black lump of coal open its mouth and devour a pile of food, a smile unconsciously tugged at the corners of Rowan’s lips. It was exactly the same as the Void Beasts from her memories.

It seemed her theory had been correct: even if a Void Beast respawned infinitely on an island, it was always the exact same one respawning. That was why Void Beasts in different zones would gradually grow wary, disgusted, and hateful toward humans over time, causing the supply of Space Stones to dwindle. It was only natural.

Rowan felt that she could perhaps offer some guidance to the other players. At the very least, she could let them know that treating the Void Beasts well would lead to better outcomes. As for those who continued to slaughter the Void Beasts even after she published her guide, there was nothing more she could do. She was not a god; she could not control people’s hearts. As long as she had a clear conscience, that was enough. In any case, as long as she stayed true to herself, she would carry no psychological burden.

In no time at all, the entire table of food had been wiped clean. Even the plates were licked spotless by the Void Beast. Then, the Void Beast lay flat on its back on the dining table, a look of complete satisfaction on its face.

”Do you want more?” Rowan asked.

”That’s enough, that’s enough,” the Void Beast said happily. It then did a somersault, stood up, and placed a pile of Stones on the table. ”These are Space Stones. Is this enough?”

Hearing this, Rowan quickly clarified, ”For this trade, I will give you some more delicious food. The previous meal was just me treating you as a guest.” As she spoke, Rowan brought out some more finished culinary goods—things like milk, cola, cake, and so on.

”Human, you’re so good,” the Void Beast said passionately to Rowan. ”Will the humans I meet later be as good as you?”

”There will be good ones, but there will also be bad ones. The bad ones will want to kill you, so please don’t be this friendly to everyone,” Rowan hurriedly warned. She still wasn’t sure if she could convince the Void Beast to follow her, but she desperately hoped it wouldn’t end up like it had in her previous life, fleeing at the mere sight of a human. How much pain and suffering must it have endured to develop such a conditioned reflex?

”Then will everyone have as much delicious food as you do?” the Void Beast continued.

Rowan thought for a moment before replying, ”No. Currently, I am the player with the most resources. However, if you trade with your Space Stones, you will still be able to eat a lot of good food.”

”But definitely not as much as our master has!” Seabird One couldn’t help but jump in. ”Our master even has gourmet food with special Effects!”

”Wow!” The Void Beast looked utterly amazed, like a country bumpkin seeing the big city for the first time.

The Void Beast’s reaction clearly filled Seabird One with pride, and he happily began chatting away with it. A short while later, Seabird Two and the rest of the flock unconsciously joined in the conversation.

Rowan remained speechless.

Well then! They certainly had more in common to talk about with each other.