【Soul Furnace (Green)】
【A BOSS’s might is built upon piles of bleached bones. A furnace has been born within you, capable of smelting the soul essence of living beings you defeat and turning it into nourishment for your own growth.】
【Effect: Whenever you kill a unit, you will permanently absorb a trace amount of its life essence, increasing your maximum health.】
【The maximum health absorbed will fluctuate based on the gap in strength between you and the unit you kill. Minimum gain: 0.1 maximum health. Maximum gain: 5 maximum health.】
【Remark: A myriad corpses shall aid me in ascending to kingship.】
Lin Ye’s heart gave a fierce thump.
It was still adding to his tankiness!
He understood now.
The system still thought his HP was too low.
Thinking about it, that made sense. What dungeon BOSS wasn’t a health monster?
Too little HP meant there was no difficulty.
It might even get cleared by players before its mechanics had time to show.
This green mechanic had given Lin Ye an almost limitless source for increasing his maximum health!
The numbers it gave weren’t large, but its potential was enormous!
And in this world, maximum health directly corresponded to the “Life Index,” the core statistic representing talent and potential!
Originally, after experiencing a fight against a “high-level adventurer” like Chen Meng, the massive reward of 150 experience points had already made Lin Ye waver over the inefficient act of grinding mutated rats at the junkyard.
After all, one spar with a strong opponent was worth killing one hundred and fifty mutated rats.
But now, with the appearance of the Soul Furnace mechanic, his thoughts had completely changed.
The higher the Life Index, the higher the cultivation efficiency, the tougher the body, and the stronger the potential!
This was absolutely a core attribute where more was always better!
It seemed his solo leveling at night would have to continue.
……
The day’s classes ended.
When Lin Ye returned home, it was already dusk.
Before long, dinner was served.
Lin Ye could no longer suppress the hunger in his stomach and directly entered sweeping-storm mode.
Whether meat dishes or vegetables, everything on the table vanished at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The rice in the bowl before him had already piled up like a small mountain, but this was only the beginning.
One bowl, two bowls, three bowls…
At first, Li Wan and Lin Wei watched him with smiles, but gradually, the smiles on the mother and daughter’s faces froze, replaced by shock.
“Eat slower, don’t choke…”
The same shock as Li Jun’s appeared on his sister Lin Wei’s face.
She looked at her younger brother’s bottomless appetite and felt somewhat worried.
This appetite was far too exaggerated!
One person was about to eat as much as their family of three used to!
However, after her initial surprise, undisguisable joy welled up in their mother Li Wan’s eyes.
Not only did she not stop him, she instead stood up, went to the kitchen, and brought out another large basin of rice, placing it before Lin Ye.
“Is it enough? If it isn’t, Mom will cook more for you!”
“Being able to eat is a blessing! It means Xiao Ye has been training hard lately and his body is growing!”
It was common knowledge throughout society that martial artists could eat.
The growth of vital blood and the tempering of bones and muscles all required enormous amounts of energy to support them.
The appetite of a martial science student was often several times that of an ordinary person.
In the past, although Lin Ye’s appetite had been larger than that of his peers, it had ultimately been limited. This had once made Li Wan secretly worried, feeling that it was a sign her son’s vital blood was insufficient.
But now, watching her son wolf down his food, she instead felt incomparably at ease.
This was what a future martial artist should look like!
Lin Ye glanced at the mission requirement for 【Abyssal Maw】.
In the morning, he had taken in close to ten thousand kilocalories of food.
At noon, he had eaten another five or six thousand at the cafeteria.
Now, he had finally completed it.
Just then, the communicator on the table suddenly lit up, and the ringtone sounded.
Lin Wei glanced at the caller ID and cried out in surprise, “It’s Dad!”
The communication connected, and the face of a middle-aged man with a square face appeared on the light screen.
It was none other than Lin Ye’s father, Lin Tao.
The background around him seemed to be a cramped metal dormitory, the lighting somewhat dim.
“Wife, Xiao Wei, Xiao Ye, having dinner?”
Lin Tao forced out a smile. His gaze swept over his wife and daughter before finally landing on Lin Ye, his eyes instantly becoming gentle.
“Dad!” Lin Ye put down his bowl and chopsticks and called out.
Lin Tao’s gaze swept across the mountain of empty plates in front of Lin Ye, and a trace of gratification and pride flashed in his eyes.
“Not bad. Your appetite’s grown. Looks like you haven’t been slacking off in training lately!”
He looked at his son in the light screen as though he were seeing the hope of the future, the smile on his face incomparably bright.
“Don’t worry, everything’s fine on my end.”
Lin Tao cleared his throat and forced himself to sound energetic. “The environment in the Seventh War Zone is much better than I imagined. Food and lodging are included, there’s meat with every meal, and the dormitory is a single room. It’s more comfortable than Dongjiang!”
He paused, his tone carrying a hint of pride as though presenting a treasure.
“And it’s weekly pay over here. This week’s salary will be transferred to the household card the day after tomorrow. With the high-risk subsidy included, it’ll be tens of thousands altogether! There’s no need to be so frugal in daily life anymore. Buy what you need!”
A single dormitory?
It was clearly a single-person sleeping pod so narrow that even turning around was difficult.
Good food?
Lin Ye could even see that on the small table behind his father, there was only a tube of cheap nutritional paste, half-finished.
The so-called Seventh War Zone was a frontline fortress built by humanity atop ruins in order to resist the Heavenly Abyss.
There lay the edge of peace, the very front line of war.
How could it possibly be better than the comfortable rear cities?
Just then.
From the background noise of the light screen, a piercing alarm suddenly rang out!
Woo—!
Immediately after, there was a violent tremor, and even the communication light screen began shaking fiercely!
A dull, heavy boom came from the distance, as though some colossal object had crashed into the fortress walls.
“Level-three alert! All combat personnel, immediately proceed to your designated battle positions!”
“Repeat! All combat personnel, immediately proceed to your designated battle positions!”
The cold mechanical broadcast voice passed through the light screen and clearly reached the ears of Lin Ye’s family.
The smile on Lin Tao’s face instantly stiffened.
Li Wan’s heart clenched fiercely, and her voice trembled. “Old Lin, this… what’s going on?”
“It’s fine, it’s fine!” Lin Tao hurriedly waved his hand, forcing a smile back onto his face. “It’s just… just a routine drill!”
In a fluster, he prepared to end the communication.
“I’ve got something to handle here, so I won’t chat with you all for now. You… take care of yourselves!”
“Dad!” Lin Wei suddenly shouted.
Lin Tao’s movements paused.
He turned his head, not letting his family see his expression.
The communication was cut off in that instant.
The light screen instantly went dark.
At the dining table, the originally cheerful and warm atmosphere vanished without a trace.
The air was deathly silent.
Li Wan’s tears could no longer be held back, sliding down soundlessly.
Lin Wei’s eyes also reddened. She silently reached out and held her mother’s ice-cold hand.
Lin Ye said nothing.
Only the chopsticks in his hand were gripped so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
His mother wiped away her tears, silently stood up, and began clearing the bowls and chopsticks.
“Xiao Ye, you’ve been tired all day. Go back to your room and rest.”
Lin Ye nodded, stood up, and returned to his room.
But the door to his room was not completely closed.
He heard his sister Lin Wei lower her voice in the living room and say to their mother.
“Mom, I’ve thought it through.”
“I… don’t want to continue attending medical university.”
From the living room came his mother Li Wan’s surprised voice. “What nonsense are you saying? Your grades are so good. If you don’t keep studying, what do you want to do?”
Lin Wei’s voice carried a hint of determination, as well as a barely perceptible sob.
“Mom, the tuition is too expensive. Even after graduating, it’ll still take many more years—internship, standardized residency training—many more years, and it’ll cost a lot of money too.”
“Xiao Ye is in the final sprint stage now. The little money I make from part-time work isn’t nearly enough.”
“If this goes on, our family won’t be able to hold on.”
“I want to start working early and make money. As long as we can get Dad transferred back from the Seventh War Zone, as long as our family can be together safely, that’s more important than anything!”
“I won’t study anymore. Leave all the money for Xiao Ye, so he can sprint ahead without any worries!”
Slap!
A crisp sound rang out.
Their mother had slapped his sister.
“You fool!” Li Wan’s voice trembled violently with anger and heartache.
“I don’t want to hear those words a second time!”
“Making money is our responsibility! What you and your brother need to do is study hard, get into the best universities, and have a bright future!”
“Do you know why your father went to the Seventh War Zone? It was so that you and Xiao Ye could sit peacefully in a classroom! If you dare give up, how can you face him?”
From the living room came Lin Wei’s suppressed sobs, along with their mother’s equally choked scolding.
Lin Ye leaned against the cold wall, both fists clenched tightly, his body trembling slightly from the extremity of his emotions.
In his chest, it was as though a volcano was about to erupt.
He had no way to step in and solve the family’s difficulties right now.
But Lin Ye had long since known how he should earn money.
Two weeks!
There were only two weeks left until the baseline exam!
Merely reaching the designated cutoff score was no longer enough!
He had to surpass that standard!
He had to astonish everyone in a single move!
He had to obtain the most generous scholarship offered by Dongjiang No. 1 High School!
He had to show everyone—the school, this world—his unparalleled value!
Only geniuses could receive a tilt in resources!
Only the strong had the qualifications to change the rules!
Those resources and privileges once monopolized by the top students…
Now, he was going to fight for them too!
The night deepened.
Outside the window, all was silent.
Lin Ye changed into clothes suited for movement, put on a hood, and blended into the night.
He had already completed all his daily missions.
Going out now was not for mission rewards.
It was to vent!
And even more… to level up!