As for beast souls, they are all extremely expensive items. Even the lowest-grade beast soul is something that a penniless Henry Carter cannot afford.

Without powerful ancient martial arts, without the help of beast souls, and not even able to buy high-grade human-made alloy weapons, Henry Carter struggles to survive in the Shelter of the Gods, only able to hunt some low-level creatures and eat their flesh and blood to evolve his own body.

However, the more low-level flesh and blood he eats, the less effective it becomes for his physical evolution. As a result, even though Henry Carter has been in the Shelter of the Gods for more than three months, he still hasn't managed to complete a single physical evolution.

It's not that Henry Carter hasn't tried to hunt stronger creatures, but even the weakest primitive creature, the Copper-Toothed Beast, almost cost Henry Carter his life, forcing him to recuperate for nearly a month before he could return to the Shelter of the Gods.

Now, Henry Carter has almost eaten all the low-level creatures nearby that he is able to hunt. Eating their flesh and blood is no longer of any use. If he doesn't take the risk to hunt higher-level creatures, who knows how long it will take for his body to evolve.

Just as Henry Carter was considering whether to try hunting the Copper-Toothed Beast again, he suddenly caught sight of something crawling out of the mountain stream from the corner of his eye.

At first, Henry Carter thought it was a black beetle, but he immediately felt something was off. Black beetles always have jet-black shells, but what he glimpsed out of the corner of his eye was a dazzling golden color.

Henry Carter focused his gaze on the thing crawling out of the stream, and it really was a black beetle. However, this black beetle was different from ordinary ones: its body was as big as a basketball and shone with a golden hue, as if it were a work of art carved from gold. Especially its eyes, which were as clear and translucent as yellow crystal. If you didn't look closely, you wouldn't even realize it was a living creature.

"Why is this black beetle so strange?" Henry Carter stared motionlessly at the black beetle that looked as if it were carved from gold.

During this time, he had hunted countless black beetles and knew them inside out. Black beetles have poor eyesight but extremely keen hearing. As long as you stay still, even if you're right next to them, they can't detect your presence.

Henry Carter stared motionlessly at the bizarre golden black beetle, but unexpectedly, the golden black beetle actually crawled toward him.

Almost without thinking, as soon as the golden black beetle crawled next to Henry Carter, he pressed down on its golden shell with lightning speed, while his other hand skillfully drove a dagger into its vulnerable joint. With six swift, crisscrossing slashes, as smooth as flowing water, he cleanly and efficiently cut off all six of the golden black beetle's legs.

Then, taking advantage of the beetle's struggle to flip over, he stabbed his dagger into a white mark under its abdomen and gave it a twist. The golden black beetle immediately stopped moving.

"Hunted a God-blooded creature: Black Beetle. Obtained God-blooded Black Beetle beast soul. Consuming God-blooded Black Beetle flesh may randomly grant 0 to 10 God Genes."

Chapter 2: The Butt Demon

Henry Carter was stunned by the sudden voice in his mind, hardly daring to believe it was real.

A God-blooded creature, a God-blooded beast soul—it's simply unbelievable.

Creatures in the Shelter of the Gods are divided into four types: ordinary creatures, primitive creatures, mutant creatures, and God-blooded creatures. Consuming the flesh and blood of creatures of different levels grants different grades of genes.

Currently, humans have discovered a total of four shelter spaces. Each time you evolve your body, you can enter the next space. The stronger the genes used during evolution, the higher your chances of survival in the next space.

As for God-blooded beast souls, there's even less to say—they are the best of the best among beast souls. Any God-blooded beast soul can be sold for an astronomical price.

When Henry Carter finally reacted, his hands were almost trembling as he gripped the dagger, pried open the God-blooded Black Beetle's shell, cut off a piece of the jelly-like tender meat inside, and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Consumed God-blooded Black Beetle flesh. Gained one God Gene."

Feeling the heat flow through his body after swallowing the flesh, and hearing the voice echo in his mind, he was so moved he was nearly in tears.

Without caring about anything else, he grabbed the God-blooded Black Beetle's legs, sucked out the meat inside, and swallowed it all in one go. He felt waves of heat surging through his body, as if his entire being was about to boil over.

Eating the God-blooded Black Beetle wasn't much different from eating crab. After sucking the meat clean from all six legs, Henry Carter used his knife to cut out the meat inside the shell and ate it.

"Consumed God-blooded Black Beetle flesh. Gained one God Gene."

"Consumed God-blooded Black Beetle flesh. Gained one God Gene."

"……"

The strange voice echoed continuously in Henry Carter's mind, making him feel as if he were floating on cloud nine.

As Henry Carter happily cut piece after piece, his dagger suddenly struck something hard with a clang, producing a metallic sound that made Henry Carter pause in surprise.

Black beetles are a lot like crabs—they look tough, but inside the shell it's all tender meat, not even any bones. How could there possibly be metal inside?