Scavenger Rat discovered another batch of edible material from some corner of the grove that evening. Since Euri had already deposited the beast core and body of the Fortress Mantis from the last hunt, another batch of ambrosia was produced, consumed, and digested by the time the metro reached his home station.
Those two units of ambrosia took him all the way to 1.1 points according to the Physique evaluation stat.
"Am I only ten percent stronger than before?" Euri couldn't help but wonder.
Maybe it was because his body had been enhanced too quickly, because he felt like his strength had at least doubled. There was an illusion of power in the way his muscles moved and reacted to stimuli.
He took a detour to the chamber of the neighborhood doctor and had his. bandage removed. The doctor made an interesting comment on the state of the wound—that it was healing way faster than normal.
"Have you been taking any special medication? Or have your injuries always healed this fast? I have only ever seen such recovery speed in superhumans!"
"You guessed it right!" Euri told him in an impressed tone. "My injuries heal pretty quickly, but this one is an even more extreme case, truth be told. I think the doctor who dressed the wound misjudged the damage there. It wasn't that bad to begin with."
Returning home, he immediately looked up the research made on superhuman physiques. The articles available to the general population barely seemed to scratch the surface of the mysteries.
Euri was certain that he was only seeing the tip of the iceberg. The practical nurturing methods of superhumans and beast familiars were precious assets. The rapid rise of super corporations and the emergence of clan systems among the rich had only exacerbated the issue.
It wasn't as if no one cared about the problem. The stable governments around the planet undertook projects on massive budgets, hoping to produce superhumans at the grassroots level. Training courses, expedition funding, scholarships—every method was being tried.
Even the scholarship drama in his school was a result of these efforts. Many private organizations, like J. J. Foundation, undertook privatized projects copying the government's efforts for various tax benefits and lobbying opportunities in the bureaucratic fields.
There were also some extremist organizations, fueled by the age-old revolutionary idea of reducing wealth gaps in society; except now they wanted to distribute to the general population all the resources, secrets, and opportunities to become superhumans.
Their ideas sounded good on paper, attracting countless followers. But just as it happens with any extreme idea, those who pursue it resort to unsavory methods to spread their influence and prove themselves to be a threat to many establishments, sometimes often spiraling into utterly destructive devices.
For a commoner like Euri, navigating on the path of superhumans was thus not easy. Even the internet was filled with traps, false data, and rabbitholes of conspiracy better left unexplored. He had to verify all available information from multiple sources, which left him with little results.
"So superhumans have to undergo specialized physical and mental training to maintain their improved stats. Without regular training, not only will their physique deteriorate, but there is also a small chance of falling sick to alien diseases!"
Euri's fear only subsided after deeper research on the web, discovering that the maintenance training regimens weren't anything outlandish. Aside from some suspicious-sounding breathing techniques, most of it was just modified versions of regular exercises.
Euri spent the rest of the evening planning an exercise schedule for his fast-improving body. He had to factor in the fact that every week, his physical attributes were likely to undergo a considerable leap. The schedule had to be flexible and varied.
The next couple of days passed in a blur of tranquil developments. Nothing too amazing happened in the game; nothing too shocking happened in the real world. The waves of excitement and dread set off by the third Cosmic Notice slowly faded from the lives of the common folks. Routines all over the world got back on track.
On the seventh day after becoming the administrator of the sacred ground, Euri stumbled upon his next in-game discovery, a pretty significant one at that too.
[ Sacred Ground Core: Vitality Gas Well ]
[ Property: Emits a gas that improves the constitution of beasts chosen for nurturing ]
[ Level 1 ]
[ Beast Cores Sacrificed: 11/100 ]
[ Core Depleted State: Effects of the vitality gas will be greatly weakened for the next 11 hours ]
Euri had read the same data in this stat window so many times that he had almost ignored the changes this time. But that number in the last line had caught his eye, and left an explosion of ideas in his mind.
"I wasn't wrong to keep investing in the upgrade route of the gas well!" Euri roared ecstatically, jumping inside his bedroom like a rubber ball. This was truly worth celebrating!
He had assumed that depositing more beast cores inside the well would beget him more 'Blessings' from the sacred ground. The skill [ Shepherding ] alone was making things so convenient for him inside the game. The remaining eight skills on that roulette had to be equally amazing, if not better.
But after depositing more beast cores, no such blessings had come, dampening his anticipation. Still, Euri had continued dumping more beast cores in it, the main reason being that he had no other use for these cores.
Scavenger Rat's supply of ingredients hadn't been consistent over the last couple of days. Euri had only managed to consume two more batches of ambrosia, whereas the number of beasts caught during hunting modes was twelve, counting the two caught half an hour ago.
Most of these beasts had pretty unimpressive affixes and attributes, and Euri didn't want to turn them into his familiars. He feared that the brutish, painful process of memory transplantation would damage his brain.
But the ambrosia pool's ingredient slots were clogged because of the slow production rate. That meant Euri had no other choice but to sacrifice most of the beast cores to the vitality gas well. And now, the quantity of sacrifices has eventually led to a major change!
"If 11 beast cores can reduce the timespan of the depleted state by 1 hour, then shouldn't 99 beast cores reduce it by 9 hours? If that's the truth, then I will be able to open up hunting mode every three to four hours soon!
How many beasts a day is that? How many cores?
I'll have enough beast cores lying around to even directly consume in large numbers, finally awakening superhuman abilities!"