Jack Harper was inching closer, but his movements were fluid and not at all slow. When he managed to get within three meters of the wolf spider, the spider seemed to sense something.

At that moment, Jack Harper immediately burst forth at his fastest speed, closing in on the wolf spider in an instant. The wolf spider had already realized an enemy was ambushing it, and its eight legs sprang into action, but it was still just a bit too late.

Jack Harper's blade, shimmering with a trace of starlight, stabbed into the wolf spider's body—right at the central nervous system. The wolf spider let out a screech, its eight legs thrashing wildly, but by then, Jack Harper had already retreated. He had no intention of letting a dying, frenzied star beast injure him for nothing.

All these actions were completed in one smooth motion. If there had been any onlookers, they would have thought Jack Harper was a seasoned hunter—he knew how to approach a wolf spider, knew the location of its central nervous system, struck with a single blow, and immediately withdrew from the battlefield. It was all so seamless.

Given this, who would believe that this was Jack Harper's first time hunting a star beast? This would make many veterans feel utterly ashamed.

Very soon, the wolf spider lost all signs of life. Next came the crucial moment: the beast soul of the wolf spider would appear above its body and then slowly dissipate.

At this point, the person who defeated the wolf spider could absorb the beast soul. But whether it could be fully absorbed depended on the strength of the star spirit—and luck.

The strength of the star spirit determined how much could be forcibly absorbed, while luck determined how much extra could be absorbed beyond that. Maybe you could absorb it all, or maybe not a bit extra.

Jack Harper immediately released his star spirit, and then there was nothing more for him to do—the star spirit would absorb automatically, and he had no control over it.

The absorption was very fast, just a second or two. He watched as the beast soul turned into specks of light, merged into his star spirit, and was absorbed. Now, he just had to wait until he had time to cultivate and strengthen his star spirit.

As for the part of the beast soul that wasn't absorbed, it would simply go to waste. Of course, that's only a waste for him; for the world, it still existed.

Hmm, not bad—he'd already absorbed eighty percent, just a little bit left.

Huh? Still absorbing, it's almost ninety percent now.

Gone!

"……"

Jack Harper looked at the wolf spider's corpse in front of him—or more precisely, at the empty space above it. The wolf spider's beast soul had just been there, and now it had been completely absorbed by him. His luck was almost too good.

However, it would have been better if this luck had been used on another beast soul. This was only a level five Star Disciple; even a full absorption might not be as much as absorbing one percent more from a Star Soldier-level beast. What a pity.

This was the classic case of getting a bargain and still complaining!

"At this level, there probably won't be much star beast flesh." Jack Harper began to process the wolf spider's corpse, using a special knife to dissect it.

His dissection skills were almost at the level of a master butcher, since he had the anatomical diagram of the wolf spider. This allowed him to maximize the materials he could get from it. Still, even at maximum yield, there wasn't much to begin with.

The wolf spider only had a small piece of star beast flesh; the rest was just ordinary meat, good enough to fill the stomach.

Star beast flesh doesn't mean all the meat on a star beast. It's the portion of flesh that contains starlight energy. The more of this flesh, the stronger the star beast; the less, the weaker.

The best way to use this flesh was to eat it on the spot, or else the starlight energy would slowly dissipate. Once it dissipated to a certain point, it would stop.

In other words, hunting on your own not only gets you beast souls, but the starlight energy is also much better than what you get from safe, closed-door cultivation.

Jack Harper ate the piece of star beast flesh directly, without cooking it—he didn't have the means for quick cooking anyway. If he wanted something tasty, he could eat other meat; this was just like taking medicine.

Then he sat down cross-legged and activated the Lieshan Technique, digesting and storing the flesh in his body, planning to convert the stored starlight energy into his own when he had time to cultivate.

Although this place was relatively safe, now was not the time for cultivation. He still had things to take care of and needed to keep moving.

Chapter 13: The Ghost Clan Girl in the Cocoon

Spider venom sac—an important medicinal ingredient, decent quality, can be kept for now.

Spider silk—material, troublesome to collect, limited carrying capacity.

Spider venom stinger...

After analyzing and summarizing, Jack Harper only took the venom sac. The main reason was his limited carrying capacity—he didn't have a spatial pouch or anything, and in this environment, he couldn't afford to bring too many unimportant things. Besides, he planned to bring some quest materials down the mountain to earn a generous reward.

Just as Jack Harper was about to leave, the cocoon in the tree moved again, making him stop and prepare to open it for a look.

Normally, a wolf spider's cocoon contains its prey. Since wolf spiders are scavengers, their prey is injected with venom and left to die slowly inside, only to be eaten after decomposition begins.

Therefore, no matter what's inside, Jack Harper was reluctant to open it, afraid of seeing something disgusting.