At the final hour of that night, two things happened simultaneously. The sacred ground core recovered from its depleted state, and Scavenger Rat returned with a stack of red leaves, which were assessed to be [ Common Foodstuff ] by the ambrosia pool.
Euri had a sneaky suspicion that the rat had discovered these edible things a long time ago, and had been busy filling its own stomach in secret. The only reason it had shown itself was to be allowed to cultivate under the higher quality gas.
When he communicated this suspicion to the rat, it vehemently denied the accusation. But Euri still threatened it, recalling how it had absorbed the leftover ambrosia in the pool after discovering it. The rat could definitely not be trusted in such matters.
[ Sacred Ground Secondary Core: Ambrosia Pool ]
[ Level 1 ]
[ Current Production: 4 Units ]
[ Current Ingredients: - ]
[ Allot/Consume ]
Once again, his theory—the number of ambrosia units produced would be equal to the highest number of ingredients of any one type—was confirmed. This time, the number of units the red leaves had been divided into was 4. And the production of ambrosia had also reached 4 units.
"Logically speaking, the beast cores should be the most important ingredient in producing ambrosia. The last time, there was only 1 beast core, spread across 3 units. This time, 2 beast cores have been spread across 4 units. Shouldn't that make this batch of ambrosia better in terms of quality?"
Wondering to himself, Euri clicked on the consume option and felt his stomach fill up. For safety's sake, he never consumed multiple units at once.
Half an hour later, feeling the intense coldness in his guts go away, he checked his profile in the game.
[ Administrator Profile ]
[ Rank-0 Lifeform ]
[ Physique: 1.04 ]
[ Special Attribute: - ]
[ Familiars: Scout Dog, Brawler Rat, Scavenger Rat, Dread Spider ]
[ Administration Skill: Shepherding ]
"Still 0.01 points for one unit of ambrosia? What the hell! Doesn't this mean I suffered a loss by depositing two beasts as a set? If I had used them separately, I might have been able to eke out 0.03 points for each production! I just needed more leaves or fruits..."
There was no use in slapping himself now. He could only take it as a lesson learned the hard way.
Feeling like he had spent too much brainpower on an erroneous theory, Euri consumed the remaining three units of ambrosia one by one. Two hours later, when he checked the profile again, he was in for a surprise.
[ Physique: 1.08 ]
"So there WAS a little deviation! Four units of ambrosia took me up by 0.05 points! The game just doesn't bother showing it!"
That extra bit of improvement, spread across four units of ambrosia, might be too little in the game's perspective, but to Euri, it was a significant landmark, because it proved that he had actually been on the right path of analysis earlier.
"It looks like I don't have to waste time trying to maximize the benefits of each ambrosia production attempt. There indeed is a dilution and concentration effect in the production process. If the ingredients are of higher quality or quantity, the output will be better as well."
The increase of 0.05 points in a span of two and a half hours did not feel as invisible as his first intake of ambrosia. When he looked in the mirror, the signs of an enhanced physique appeared prominent.
The muscle definition and mass around his limbs, the sudden outburst of energy in his joints, the disappearance of the slight gut...
Had this been the goal of a natural transformation, Euri would have had to hit full-body exercises regularly for at least eight weeks!
"This might be difficult to explain..." Euri thought of his friends in school and got lost trying to come up with an explanation for the rapid enhancement of his physique.
The next time they were going to see him, his physique might be nearing 1.2 points. They would definitely notice it, sooner or later.
Done with his tasks in the game, Euri activated the hunting mode and got himself some extra sleep to avoid dozing off in school.
Although Mekyle had warned him not to show up at school for the rest of the week, Euri knew how unsafe he would be in his home during the daytime. So he'd definitely return there today, and if Baldy Bennet's boys had a problem with that, he could test the improvements of his physique directly.
After all, what better test was there than dishing out punches and getting punched back? Combat was the field where physique mattered the most. And Euri had been in enough of them to stop fearing a beating.
Besides, the drama with Yellow Sun School and J.J. Trust Fund was too damn juicy. He didn't want to miss it!
By the time he woke up, his parents had left for their shifts. While eating cold leftovers in a hurry, he logged into the game. Another successful hunting session, two new beasts captured. And these two had pretty interesting stats.
[ Fortress Mantis ]
[ Rank-0 Lifeform ]
[ Physique: 0.3 ]
[ Special Attribute: Living Armor ]
The mantis was about twice the size of the rats, and covered in a pitch-black, tar-like layer of skin that the game assessed as an armor. Euri guessed that the 'living' part might be referring to the possibility that the armor could grow alongside the mantis.
He had Brawler Rat punch the mantis a few times in several parts of its body. But the strikes didn't even seem to elicit any painful reactions from it. The entirety of its focus remained on getting out of the barrier of tentacles.
The second creature caught in that barrier was a very small green snake. It had an even more interesting affix to its name.
[ Saw Serpent ]
[ Rank-0 Lifeform ]
[ Physique: 0.5 ]
[ Special Attribute: Bonesaw ]
True to the description, its spine contained a series of bone spurs that stuck out on both sides of its body. The spurs had to be pretty sharp, because this was the first time Euri saw the tentacles being damaged while suppressing a creature.
The spurs moved in tandem with the violent contortions of the snake's tangled-up body, cutting deep into the tentacles wrapped around it. Some tentacles had already been fully severed. Even the giant centipedes hadn't managed to inflict this much damage on the tentacles.
"No one's going to be able to drag that one to the ambrosia pool," Euri thought, looking at his current familiars. Maybe attempting to tame this one would be a better idea. He did need stronger familiars to deal with future threats.
So he chose the [ Cultivate ] option for the snake and ordered the four familiars to lure the mantis into the pool. For some reason, it turned out a lot easier this time. As soon as Dread Spider approached the freed mantis, it tried to escape like its life was on the line.
Watching the insect being pressured from three sides to run towards the ambrosia pool, Euri's eyes narrowed.
"Is Dread Spider's aura extra effective on smaller insects? Or is it the result of cultivating its special attribute—Aura, under the gas well?"