He pushed open the door to his home, and the aroma of stew wafted from the kitchen.
"You’re back?" Mother’s voice called from the kitchen.
"Yeah."
He took off his coat, hung it on the hook by the door, and bounded up the stairs.
He closed the door and slid the bolt.
He went to his desk drawer and opened the innermost hidden compartment.
The copper coin was wrapped in a small piece of linen, nestled in the deepest part of the compartment.
The Incense Burner was in the second drawer, resting on an old handkerchief.
He first took out the copper coin and unwrapped the linen.
There was very little Ether left from the last time he’d absorbed it, so the coin was no different from an ordinary old copper coin.
He placed the copper coin in his palm and sank his consciousness into the panel.
A number jumped.
0.94... 0.96. After that, it stopped.
’There really is just a sliver left in the copper coin.’
He kept holding it and waited for another ten-odd seconds.
0.97. It jumped again, slower this time, then went completely still.
The copper coin was drained. He placed it on his desk.
Depleted of its deposited Ether, the copper coin was now indistinguishable from common scrap copper.
Its surface luster had completely faded. If it were mixed into a pile of old junk coins, no one would be able to tell what it once held.
Next was the Incense Burner.
He pulled open the drawer and took out the Small Incense Burner.
This Incense Burner was a little bigger than the copper coin, fitting perfectly in his palm.
He pressed his palm against it, and the panel reacted.
0.98. A little faster than the coin.
0.99... 1.00... He breathed a sigh of relief and kept waiting.
By the time it reached 1.03, the Incense Burner was empty too.
He released his grip.
Available Points: 1.03. ’That’s enough.’
Richard put the empty Incense Burner back in the drawer.
Like the copper coin, the Incense Burner had become a completely ordinary old object after losing its Ether.
He didn’t touch the Sphinx Oil Lamp.
1.03 was past the one-point threshold. There was no need to use the bit of Ether remaining in the Oil Lamp right now. ’I’ll save it.’
That lamp still had research value.
Richard sat down at his desk and focused his full attention on the panel.
[Breathing Lv.2] Progress: 93.02%
The Points were ready.
The progress bar just had a little way to go.
However, it was still undecided whether he should invest this one point into advancing [Breathing]. The other option was to put it into [Perception].
Whether he should save it to advance [Breathing] when the progress bar was full, or unlock [Perception], would depend on the inspiration test on Sunday.
’If my inspiration is high enough, I’ll save the point. If not, I’ll unlock it to pass the test.’
From [Breathing] to [Scholarship], and then to [Eating] and [Sleeping], none of them had any special prompts for reaching Lv.2.
The real turning point was at Level 3.
The "Healing" from Breathing Lv.3 and the "Erudite" from Scholarship Lv.3 were both excellent traits, and their prerequisites weren’t simple.
’So, what would Eating, Sleeping, and Walking be like at Lv.3?’
His gaze fell on the Available Points column.
’Preview advancement conditions. No Points consumed, just viewing.’
This was a function he had used repeatedly over the past few months.
His consciousness first locked onto [Eating] and pushed into it.
The panel displayed a preview of the conditions.
"This Skill has been activated. To advance again, the following conditions must be met:
Reach 100% progress for Lv.2; 1 Available Point; voluntarily ingest a substance with clear toxicity and fully metabolize it."
Below was a line of smaller text:
"Unlockable Effect Preview—Eating·Filtering:
Gain significant resistance to toxins, putrefied matter, and pathogenic parasites."
’The unlock conditions are much milder than I expected.’
A trace of moldy bread, mildly poisonous wild mushrooms, meat that’s a few days expired, certain undercooked beans... he could find several "safe-grade" toxins right in his kitchen.
He wouldn’t even need to make a special trip to a pharmacy or the countryside.
’After unlocking this trait, if anyone tries anything underhanded, I’ll at least have an extra layer of protection.’
’And since Level 3 gives a trait, maybe Level 5 gives an advanced trait.’
’What would an advanced [Filtering] be?’
’Converting toxins and harmful substances into my own nutrients? Or maybe even gaining the properties of the substances I ingest?’
Pulling his thoughts back, he closed the preview for [Eating] and opened [Sleeping].
"This Skill has been activated. To advance again, the following conditions must be met:
Reach 100% progress for Lv.2; 1 Available Point; complete one full, deep sleep in an unfamiliar and disadvantageous location."
"Unlockable Effect Preview—Sleeping · Wild Sleep:
Allows for rapid sleep and high-quality restoration in any environment. Danger perception is retained during light sleep."
He couldn’t meet these conditions for now.
His home in Waste Rock Lane, the classroom at Greenwood, the guest room at Ashford—all the places he could go were safe and comfortable.
He even knew the daily schedule of the stray cat by his door. It could hardly be considered "unfamiliar and unsettling."
He would have to leave his known safe zones.
Finally, [Walking].
"This Skill has been activated. To advance again, the following conditions must be met:
Reach 100% progress for Lv.2; 1 Available Point; complete a long-distance trek spanning more than a day through hazardous terrain (e.g., mountains, swamps, snowfields, deep forests, scree slopes) without using any means of transport."
"Unlockable Effect Preview—Walking · No Fatigue:
Significantly reduces the rate of fatigue accumulation in muscles, joints, and the cardiorespiratory system. Efficiency of movement on complex terrain approaches that of flat ground."
Richard leaned back in his chair and looked at it for a while longer.
[Walking] was the last of the three he had unlocked, and he was still far from Lv.2.
His daily commute to and from school and his short runs around Waste Rock Lane were just enough to maintain basic accumulation.
But the unlock conditions themselves were trickier than those for [Sleeping].
There were no mountains around Brighton; the nearest Highland hills were in another county, a half-day’s train ride one way.
The winter snow made the "snowfield" requirement available, but he obviously couldn’t just go out into the snowy wilderness by himself for two days in winter.
’If my winter internship involves fieldwork, mountain regions in the North, and long-distance travel...’
’I could, in theory, satisfy the unlock conditions for both [Wild Sleep] and [No Fatigue] at the same time.’
’Two puzzle pieces, collected at once.’
He closed the preview for [Walking] as well.
Richard took out his Ancient Greek Language notebook from another drawer.
’Tackle a little bit every day, and it’ll add up. If I want to be a Scholar, mastering multiple ancient languages is a fundamental skill.’
The clatter of plates and bowls came from downstairs, and his mother called him to eat.
"Richard! Come down for dinner!"
"Coming!"
He closed the notebook, locked it in the drawer, and went down the stairs with light steps.
’Actually, that piece of salted beef tongue Mother said she was going to throw out if I didn’t eat it soon would be a good candidate.’
’But there’s no rush to unlock this basic condition for [Eating]. I’ll wait until I have enough Points.’
’Otherwise, if I get a stomachache now, I’ll be out of commission for at least a day or two, which would seriously affect my daily studies and training.’
.........
Brighton was hit by the heaviest rain since the start of winter.
The winter downpour lashed against the windowpanes with a CRACKLE, and the wind howled through the iron drainpipe under the eaves.
Richard lay in bed, dazed for a moment, when he suddenly felt a little hungry.
His stomach was twisting, as if a hand were pulling at it from inside his abdomen.
He threw off the covers, sat up, and rubbed his stomach.
The numbers on the panel hung quietly at the edge of his vision:
[Eating Level 1] Progress: 100%
’Wait.’
He locked his gaze on that line of text.
When he last scanned the panel before bed yesterday, the progress was still at 99%.
After a night’s sleep, the last percentage point had filled itself in.
He had eaten two almond crisps that Grey gave him before bed last night. Those two must have pushed the progress bar over the finish line.
Just like with the Breathing upgrade, going from Level 1 to Level 2 was a free upgrade that didn’t consume Points.
[Eating Level 2] Progress: 0%
The changes unfolded within seconds.
The churning hunger in his stomach didn’t fade; instead, it became clearer.
Before, hunger had been a vague, general feeling, his entire abdomen screaming, "Feed me."
Now, the hunger was precise. His stomach was telling him what he lacked, how much he lacked, and which category to replenish first.
Protein, fat, carbohydrates, minerals.
The four needs were split into four independent signals, lining up to report in his consciousness.
Protein was first, its signal the strongest.
He had been building muscle recently; the passive enhancements from Breathing and Walking made his body consume building materials every day.
Warren’s lunches and Grey’s breakfasts provided far more protein than before, but his body’s needs were growing even faster.
The supply had been chasing the demand, but it had never caught up.
Fat was second.
It was winter. Heat loss from his body surface had increased, and his subcutaneous fat reserves were practically zero.
His frame was so thin he could feel his ribs. He relied entirely on clothes and the fireplace to fend off the cold.
Carbohydrates and minerals came last. Their signals were weaker, at the "eat it if you have it, but no rush if you don’t" level.
Richard sat on the edge of the bed, digesting these changes.
The Level 2 Eating skill was, in essence, a built-in nutrition management system.
He could now actively control two things.
First, absorption efficiency.
With every bite he took, his digestive tract would squeeze out every last bit of available nutrients, minimizing waste.
An ordinary person had a low digestion and absorption rate for the same slice of bread, with most of it expelled as waste.
But his absorption efficiency was much higher than an ordinary person’s.
When food was limited, he could obtain the same amount of nutrition from a smaller amount of food.
Second, storage mode.
If food was plentiful, he could ingest far more than a normal amount in a single meal.
His body would temporarily store the excess nutrients, slowly releasing, digesting, and distributing them over the next few hours or even a day or two.
These two abilities were mirror images of each other.
One side was about conservation: eating less but absorbing it all. The other was about expansion: eating more and storing it effectively.
Richard got dressed and went downstairs. Evelyn was already sitting at the dining table.
"What took you so long to come down today?" she asked indistinctly, chewing on a bread crust.
"Slept in a little."
Mother came from the kitchen with his fried egg and bread and set them on the table.
Richard sat down, picked up his knife and fork, and cut into the fried egg.
The yolk wasn’t fully set, and a small pool of it ran to the edge of the plate when he cut it.
He used the bread to sop up all the yolk and ate two more slices.
After he finished, the food in his stomach felt like a pebble dropped into a well—it was nowhere near the bottom.
"Mom, is there any more bread?"
The clatter of dishes came from the kitchen. "Yes, there are two slices left."
"I’ll take them both."
Evelyn stopped chewing.
She turned her head to look at her brother, her grey eyes filled with an "I knew it" expression.
"Your appetite has been getting bigger and bigger lately."
Her tone was a little unfriendly:
"At this rate, you’ll probably eat our family’s entire month’s bread ration by the middle of the month."
"It’s not that bad." Richard took the bread from his mother and stuffed a large bite into his mouth.
"Besides, you have Warren buying you lunch at school, and you still eat a normal dinner when you get home."
She gestured on the table with bread crumbs:
"You’re already eating more in a day than Dad does."
If Evelyn knew Eastern proverbs, she probably would have followed up with something like: *A growing boy will eat you out of house and home.*
Richard also knew his appetite had been steadily increasing.
The reason was simple: the passive enhancements from Breathing and Walking were constantly rebuilding his muscles and bone density, requiring more and more fuel.
It was fine at school, where Warren and Grey had his back, but at home, the food budget was carefully managed.
Every extra bite he took was one less for someone else, and Mother would have to spend a few more pence on groceries and bread.
"Don’t worry." He took a sip of tea and swallowed the last bite of bread.
"I can control it from now on."
"Control what? Your appetite?" Evelyn looked skeptical.
But his sister was just running her mouth; she wasn’t really going to hold the bread against him.
How much did bread cost, anyway? You couldn’t spend more than a few shillings even if you ate until you burst.
After she finished complaining, she got up to clear the dishes. As she reached the kitchen door, she turned back to add:
"From now on, you can eat more bread at home and more meat at school. Warren’s rich, anyway."
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