Chapter 4

In the school cafeteria!

“Nine dishes! Crackpot, are you trying to turn your depression into appetite?” His best friend, Dong Wende, widened his eyes when he saw the table in front of Chu Zhou filled with nine dishes.

The food in the school cafeteria contained high-energy substances. Under normal circumstances, two dishes were enough for them to eat their fill.

Dong Wende claimed to be a huge eater, but even so, he could only eat three dishes at most. Nine dishes would make his round stomach explode. His body could not digest so much energy.

“Crackpot, are you alright?” Dong Wende reached out and touched Chu Zhou’s forehead. “You don’t have a fever! Is there something wrong with your mind? Rumor has it that some people will seek relief through overeating when they are traumatized or feel depressed and anxious… Poor Crackpot, this must be because your spot is about to be taken by Jin Zhennan…”

“How pitiful! So young and you’re already mentally ill!” Dong Wende sighed in sorrow and sympathy, as if he could not bear to see Chu Zhou seriously ill.

“Damn fatty, you’re so dramatic!” Chu Zhou rolled his eyes and slapped Dong Wende’s palm on his forehead. “Have you forgotten that I’m an Advanced Apprentice?”

Dong Wende was stunned for a moment before muttering, “Oh right, I almost forgot that you’re an Advanced Apprentice. The digestive system of an Advanced Apprentice is much stronger than that of Beginner and Intermediate Apprentices. It’s not a big deal even if you eat a little more. But isn’t this still too much!” Chu Zhou ignored his best friend, Dong Wende, and started eating.

Diamond rice with each grain the size of a thumb, golden-colored chives and purple moon melons that emitted a faint purple light… These were all high-energy foods born after the Age of Cataclysm.

It was not easy to plant and obtain these high-energy foods. The school had policy privileges to be able to provide students with so much high-energy food at such a cheap price.

Outside of school, many poor people mainly ate synthetic nutrition bars to satisfy their hunger. They would buy ordinary vegetables and meat only on important days… High-energy food was too expensive. Ordinary people could not afford it.

One dish! Two dishes! Three dishes!

Chu Zhou finished three dishes in no time. At this moment, he was already full and had satisfied his body’s needs.

However, he did not stop there. Eat, he shall continue eating! The remaining six dishes were also finished by him in no time.

At this moment, he felt that his stomach was so full that he could not eat anything else. Dong Wende was so dumbfounded and forgot to eat.

“How many attribute points will this meal give me?” Chu Zhou thought to himself as he stared at the Attribute Board that only he could see.

At the same time, his stomach was moving rapidly to digest the food. A large amount of energy was constantly replenishing his body to satisfy his body’s needs.

Under Chu Zhou’s gaze, the attribute points on his Attribute Board finally began to increase.

“+0.01!”

“+0.01!”

“+0.01!”

His attribute points were increasing in increments of 0.01 points.

Ordinary humans would take about three hours to digest a meal of normal meat and vegetables. Chu Zhou only used half an hour to digest all of it, moreover, they were high-energy food.

This meal gave him 0.15 attribute points in total.

“There’s a limit even though I’m an Advanced Apprentice with stronger digestive ability than ordinary people… If I eat too much, I’m afraid my stomach will be damaged. The gains won’t make up for the losses. In that case, it’s best to maintain three meals a day. Increasing 0.15 attribute points per meal. Three meals a day means 0.45 attribute points. That would be 4.5 attribute points in 10 days and 13.5 attribute points in a month. Increasing 13.5 attribute points in a month and adding it on to the 2 attribute points I already have, that’s 15.5 attribute points.”

“I used two attribute points when I was upgrading the Curved Hand Blade from Perfection Realm to Mastery Realm… 15.5 attribute points should be enough to upgrade it to Perfection Realm or even Intent Realm. I might even have enough attribute points left to level up the Basic Breathing Technique.”

After a simple calculation, Chu Zhou became slightly happy and excited.

If the plan went smoothly, he could upgrade the Curved Hand Blade to the Intent Realm in a month.

If that was the case, not only would he be able to crush Jin Zhennan in the elite trial easily, it would also be possible for him to obtain a spot in the top 10.

Or even in the top three!

“I heard that the top three in the elite trial will obtain the incomparably precious reward —the Genetic Potion!”

“The Genetic Potion is a precious potion that helps humans unlock their genes and transform into martial artists.”

“A bottle of Genetic Potion is worth 10 million Alliance Dollars on the market… Moreover, it cannot be bought even though it has a price. It would be very difficult to obtain the Genetic Potion even if I enter the Martial Arts University. Since there’s a chance to obtain it now…” A shocking ambition suddenly arose in his heart.

In the past, he would not have dared to have such ambitions.

The rewards for the top three in the elite trial were extremely tempting but it has been decades since anyone from the Fifth High School entered the top 10, let alone the top three.

Jiang City’s First High School was where such geniuses gathered.

In the past few decades, the top 10 of every elite trial had basically been filled by their students. Occasionally, students from the other high schools would enter the top 10, but the top three had always been from the First High School.

Chu Zhou only dared to have such ambitions after he calculated that he would have a chance to upgrade his Curved Hand Blade to the Intent Realm a month later.

“…However, there’s still a problem that needs to be resolved. My food expenses don’t seem to be enough if I were to eat like this everyday!”

Under normal circumstances, he would usually eat two dishes per meal. This would cost him about 1,000 Alliance Dollars a month.

However, his spending per meal would be more than four times what it usually cost now that he was eating nine dishes per meal.

In that case, his monthly food expenses immediately soared to more than 4,000 Alliance Dollars.

There was only a little more than 900 Alliance Dollars balance in his student card. This was obviously not enough.

“Father’s monthly salary is 3,000 Alliance Dollars. Other than maintaining the daily expenses of the family, he also has to provide for my sister and I to study. He basically doesn’t have much money left. I have to think of a way to earn money myself…” Chu Zhou felt a headache coming on. What kind of part-time job could earn him more than 3,000 Alliance Dollars a month and was also suitable for him?

Suddenly, his eyes lit up as he looked at his best friend, Dong Wende.

It was hard to find a part-time job that gives 3,000 Alliance Dollars a month… But it did not seem that difficult to be “crowdfunded”.

Right now, there was a very suitable “crowdfund investor” target.

“Old Dong… How’s our relationship?” Chu Zhou gave his best friend a “friendly” smile.

“Pfft…” Dong Wende, directly spat out a mouthful of rice when he saw Chu Zhou’s “friendly smile”. Goosebumps appeared all over his body. “Chu Zhou… Stop with the smile. What do you want to do to me?”