Ivy woke up and turned off her alarm.

It was 8 AM. She had only slept for four hours.

Her muscles ached from overexertion, but the results exceeded her expectations.

“2.4% absorption rate, even higher than the 2% I had anticipated.”

Ivy felt a mixture of pain and satisfaction.

“An extra 0.4% per day seems small, but if I keep accumulating it, it will reduce the time to reach 100% by 10 days. That means only 40 days.”

Ivy wasn’t entirely satisfied. She hoped to shorten the time to within a month.

After getting dressed, Ivy took out an iron bead from her pocket. This was her breakfast.

Four hours of sleep had freed up a little space in her stomach, which was instantly filled again. The absorption rate increased by 0.1%, reaching 2.5%.

The downside was that her pockets were almost empty.

Ivy felt around in her pockets, roughly estimating that only 0.5% of the iron beads remained. Then she counted the cash in her wallet, her face darkening.

“Damn, I got a little carried away yesterday and almost forgot what’s really holding me back besides my constitution: poverty.”

“I can rely on time to digest the iron, but the prerequisite is having enough money to buy it.”

Ivy frowned, rummaging through her belongings. Finally, she found a few more bills hidden between the pages of her books and in the pockets of her old clothes.

She counted them twice, a total of 177.5, enough to buy six pounds of iron beads, which would last about a week.

As for the mobile banking app, it was completely empty. Ivy hadn't even activated it.

Suddenly, Ivy pulled out another phone, one that was powered off. Unlike her own cheap model, this was the latest model, retailing for over 8,000, reportedly worth a good kidney on the black market.

“Rich people usually have mobile banking. Maybe there’s a lot of money in this phone.”

A greedy thought crossed Ivy’s mind, but she quickly suppressed it.

“This phone will be difficult to unlock, and I definitely can't touch the money inside, in case it can be traced. Although the precinct’s criminal investigation technology is relatively backward, it’s better to be safe.”

Lower City's technology was decades behind her previous life, at least superficially, but the thing obscuring the sky were cause for concern.

“Dad didn't come back last night?” Ivy asked her mother casually while grabbing a steamed bun from the table before heading out.

Wang Suli replied, “Yes, he said there was a major case at the precinct, and he won’t be home for a while.”

Bang.

Ivy casually closed the door and headed downstairs, her eyes flickering slightly.

She didn't eat the steamed bun, but casually tucked it into her other pocket.

She first cycled to the hardware store. On the way, she turned into a deserted alley. When she came out, the old bag she had been carrying was gone.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Entering the hardware store, she bought three more pounds of iron beads.

The shopkeeper couldn't contain his curiosity any longer. “What are you making with all these iron beads every day?” he asked.

“Nothing, I use them for martial arts training,” Ivy replied casually, thinking, “I can’t come to this store anymore.”

Nothing happened at school.

Except for the storeroom incident, today was a copy of yesterday.

Ivy sat restlessly through her cultural studies classes, sweated profusely in martial arts training, and the school grounds remained peaceful. Not even a shadow of the precinct appeared.

Ivy wondered, “Have the families not reported it yet? Or is the missing persons case not being taken seriously? Or is the precinct tied up with that major case and can’t spare the manpower?”

School ended, Ivy went home.

She arrived home relatively early today. Nobody was there.

Her mother had gone to deliver dinner and clean clothes to Eric Ruiz. Simple food was left on the table.

Ivy wouldn’t touch the food; she still had the steamed bun from the morning in her pocket. But to avoid suspicion from her mother, she found a lunchbox, scooped up some of the dishes, and added the steamed bun.

Back in her room, Ivy neatly placed the lunchbox in a corner, hung her bag on the chair, took a few deep breaths, and began her training.

The training was undoubtedly tedious and painful, especially since the soreness from yesterday lingered, making today’s session even more strenuous, as if she was suffering from some kind of debuff.

For a moment, Ivy wanted to quit.

She could train more tomorrow when her muscles weren’t so sore… but…

The coolness in her sternum became more pronounced. If yesterday it had been the size of a fingernail, today it was the size of a fingertip. If yesterday it had been -1 degree, now it was -2 degrees.

[Absorption rate increased ↑↑]

[Absorption rate increased ↑↑]

And the cool sensation traveling down her esophagus, along with the flashing prompts on her retina, provided the most intuitive proof.

Notice the difference?

There were two “↑” symbols now, compared to just one yesterday.

“Double the fatigue, double the absorption. It’s like it’s telling me that pain is an essential catalyst for growth!” Ivy thought.

She grinned, her lips wet with sweat, gasping for air like a bellows, her chest heaving until late into the night.

[Iron Eater: Rank 1]

[Consumable Iron Types: 1]

[Absorbable Metal Properties: 1]

[Currently detected iron type—Common cast iron, absorption rate 6.3%.]

[Absorbed properties: ? ?]

At 4 AM, it was pitch black outside. Higher City's "butt" hadn’t yet emitted a single ray of light.

Ivy collapsed onto her bed like a puddle of mud, her eyes glowing dimly like fireflies.

“Today’s growth is 3.9%, 1.5% more than expected! Hehe, shortening the time to a month is achievable. I might even be able to do it faster tomorrow!!!”

Of course, the cost was also higher than expected. Today’s iron consumption exceeded her estimates by 50%.

“Making money is a top priority,” Ivy muttered, turning over and pulling up her phone. A group chat window popped up.

You have been added to the group chat by La Tap—[Voids Class Reunion].

99+ unread messages.

Ivy was slightly startled and clicked on the chat.

Tao Fei: Big group sucks, I’m quitting. I created this small group for all those who withdrew to keep in touch.

Wang Jian: Good, I'm quitting too. There’s no point in staying. They look down on us anyway, won’t even interact with us.

Dong Ni: I didn’t quit. I want to see how many of them actually pass the exam. If they fail, they'll be just like us, voids. Their faces will be hilarious.

Tao Fei: Haha. Smileyface.jpg.

Wang Jian: What’s everyone doing now? I got a job at the incinerator. Burned two corpses today.

Sun Yi’e: Are the bodies scary? I’ve only heard about it on the news. I heard it’s dangerous to actually burn the bodies, is it true?

Wang Jian: It's alright, they’re processed. Just a bit nauseating to look at.

La Tap: I passed the outpost test. I’ll be on my first mission next weekend. I’m free this weekend. Let's all get together for a meal.

Ivy scanned through the messages.

The last message was sent at 1:23 AM, and there were two messages that mentioned her.

Tao Fei @ Ivy: I heard you haven’t withdrawn yet? And that you went to school the last couple of days?

La Tap @ Ivy: Come out for dinner this weekend, coming?

Ivy wasn’t planning to explain or reply, and was about to turn off her phone and sleep.

Suddenly, she paused, her fingers scrolling through the messages. Her gaze fixed on one message, then shifted to glance at her bag, her pupils contracting slightly.

Her fingers tapped a reply on the screen:

Ivy @ Tao Fei: Sorry, just saw the messages now. Yes, I’ll take care of the withdrawal procedures in the next couple of days.

Ivy @ La Tap: Will be there this weekend.

After replying, she clicked on a profile, entering a private chat. After a moment's consideration, she sent a message…