At breakfast, only Ivy and her mother, Wang Suli, were present.
It was then that Ivy learned that the Precinct had received a major murder case last night. Eric Ruiz hadn't returned home all night, but Audrey Ruiz, due to her excellent constitution, had been honored with on-campus boarding yesterday.
On-campus boarding was a privilege reserved for outstanding students, meaning they received special attention from the school. They had 24-hour access to the martial arts training hall and received additional training from teachers… after school hours.
Wang Suli was a creature of habit and had gone to bed early last night, so she didn't know how late her husband had returned.
“Your sister has a good constitution. She’ll have a bright future and will help you,” Wang Suli said softly, looking at her daughter, who was lost in thought, silently picking at her food.
Ivy swallowed the last bite of rice, let out a soft sound, and picked up her bag to leave.
Wang Suli handed her a tube of neutralizer, saying apologetically, “Remember to eat it all. And don’t resent your father. He’s doing it all for this family.”
The neutralizer, which looked like a tasteless candy but felt like plastic, was used to suppress or eliminate residual nuclear radiation in the body. Normal people needed to eat one tube a month to prevent radiation sickness.
“Yes, I know. It’s just… I’m a little reluctant. I wanted to stay in school for a few more days and not take the college entrance exam anyway. I wouldn't pass anyway. I’ll take care of the withdrawal procedures at the end of the week and then find a job to help support the family.”
This was definitely the longest conversation Ivy had had with her family in the three years since her arrival.
She wasn’t lying, as she genuinely had worries she couldn’t shake off at school.
Wang Suli smiled awkwardly and apologetically gave her some pocket money.
Ivy didn’t refuse the money, taking it and heading out the door.
Exiting the residential complex, she went straight to the hardware store, silently ordering a pound of iron beads.
Without hesitation, she secretly put two in her mouth, swallowing them like candy without chewing.
By the time she reached school, half the bag was empty.
“My stomach feels a little tight and uncomfortable. Am I full because I ate those snacks? Why does it feel so tight?”
Ivy frowned and rubbed her stomach. Suddenly, a chat box appeared before her eyes.
[Iron Eater: Rank 1]
[Consumable Iron Types: 1]
[Absorbable Metal Properties: 1]
[Currently detected iron type—Common cast iron, absorption rate 0.5%.]
[Absorbed properties: ? ?]
...
Ivy was taken aback.
“Eating iron makes me stronger. So, the absorption rate is the progress of becoming stronger through eating iron. It’s very straightforward and intuitive, and fits the game’s characteristics.”
“Not only can I get stronger, but I can also absorb the metal's properties. That sounds pretty amazing.”
“If there’s a Rank 1, that means there are Rank 2, 3, and 4, right?”
Ivy’s heart immediately warmed. Her only uncertainty was that she didn’t remember the game’s skills having upgrade levels.
After all, the game was a business tycoon simulation game. The combat system and skills were relatively underdeveloped, which was understandable.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
[Reminder: The game has been updated to integrate with reality. To better adapt to the new version, the game has implemented a full-scale upgrade patch. Please explore it independently and don't be surprised.]
Ivy understood.
How to put this?
It’s a silver-ranked ability, and it can still be upgraded. This patch is quite overpowered, but I'll take it.
“[Iron Eater] can be upgraded. What about the other two gold-ranked skills?”
Ivy didn't think they could be upgraded. After all, they were already gold-ranked, at the peak. Any further upgrades would be absurd, but it was hard to say for sure. She’d need to experiment to find out.
After making various calculations in her mind, Ivy found herself standing at the entrance of her classroom.
The classroom was about one-third empty, and all the students looked up, seemingly surprised to see Ivy in class that day.
“Didn’t everyone who stayed in the classroom yesterday withdraw?”
“Yeah, why is she here?”
“She’s not planning to take the college entrance exam, is she?”
“No way. With her grades, even if she took the exam, she wouldn’t pass. She’s like the students who dropped out yesterday; their families don't have any money. How could she afford to throw money down the drain?”
“Then what’s she doing here?”
“Who knows? Maybe she hasn’t given up and wants to try again. Maybe she’s planning to borrow money from teachers and classmates to buy a qualification certificate?”
“She’s crazy. I wouldn’t lend her money. Money thrown down the drain never comes back.”
“I actually have some spare money, but knowing she won’t pass, lending her money and giving her false hope… seems crueler. I can’t bring myself to do it.”
“Wow, Class Monitor, you’re so kind…”
Whispers filled the classroom. The gazes of the classmates were the same as yesterday, carrying an air of superiority.
If it were yesterday, Ivy would have felt suffocated and constrained by their words. But a day had passed, and hearing this trash talk now, she remained unaffected.
“They’re nothing but walking blood bags. I don’t need to get angry,” she thought.
Ivy ignored them and walked to her seat.
When her classmates saw her approach, as if afraid she would ask to borrow money, they quickly looked away.
Ivy curled her lip, noticing a change in her own attitude.
“Because I have hope, I feel empowered. But that’s why I need to cultivate myself discreetly. I absolutely cannot become arrogant!!!”
Ivy silently admonished herself. The reason she came to class instead of going straight to the storeroom was based on this very consideration.
“Since I’m at school, I have to maintain the persona of a good student. At least, my behavioral patterns shouldn’t deviate too much from the past, to avoid attracting attention.”
Ivy wasn’t necessarily worried about her classmates. She was being cautious, because two students had died in the storeroom, and the precinct was bound to investigate the school sooner or later.
Assuming that the last contact the two deceased students had with their families was when they left home that morning,
And,
Assuming their parents were relatively vigilant, then the precinct might have already received missing person reports by now.
Ivy listened to the lecture restlessly, her thoughts already wandering back to the storeroom.
The cultural studies classes ended, and there were two martial arts classes in the morning.
Ivy walked through the hallway, her eyes repeatedly glancing towards the schoolyard, but she didn’t see the blue and white police car, easing her anxiety slightly.
Arriving at the martial arts training hall, the temperature suddenly increased. The air was thick with sweat and hormones. Students in martial arts uniforms seemed to transform into upright beasts, wildly flexing their muscles, striking various equipment, and receiving real-time performance data.
Power: 2.9 levels.
Strike Speed: 2.6 times.
Skill: 1.4 stages.
Ivy unconsciously looked at the equipment in the center of the hall, her eyelids twitching violently.
Beside the equipment stood a muscular figure, his clothes soaked with sweat, revealing bulging muscles and sinewy veins that writhed like powerful worms.
“Zhao Chong, the second-place winner in the most recent high school martial arts competition.”
Watching Zhao Chong, surrounded and admired by his classmates, Ivy silently looked away and headed towards a quiet corner.
Each martial arts weapon had a different function, but the commonality was that several students surrounded each weapon. Ivy didn't join the throng.
Yesterday, she had been hesitant and insecure.
Today, she was simply too lazy. The intense feeling of fullness in her stomach made her afraid that any strenuous activity would cause her to vomit.
Vomiting wasn't the problem. The thought of vomiting up a pile of iron beads was too horrible for Ivy to imagine.
“Without the power of the sacrificial ritual to assist, my digestive system is working overtime. I feel like I’ve only digested less than 1/10 of it, and my stomach is still painfully distended.”
Ivy frowned slightly, making calculations in her mind.
“At this rate, it will probably take me 10 hours to fully digest and be ready to eat iron again.”
“One full meal provides 0.5% absorption rate. I can probably eat twice a day, meaning I can increase the absorption rate by 1% per day. To reach 100%, it would take 100 days?”
The system didn’t provide a clear answer on what would happen once the absorption rate reached 100%.
Ivy speculated that there were two possibilities. One was that she would be able to absorb a specific property of cast iron. The other was that the [Iron Eater] skill would upgrade to Rank 2.
Either way, it would result in a significant increase in her strength.
“100 days to achieve this transformation isn't slow, theoretically speaking. But is there any way to speed things up?”