177 Metal
'What's going on?' Alex was surprised. This was an unprecedented event for him during all of his time, making pills. However, as an expert alchemist, he didn't let the unusualness of the situation, derail his concentration.
He made use of the situation and moved the energy directly into the forming pill. The pill absorbed as much as it could before the energy left it. While he couldn't instill a lot of energy, he could tell that it was still better.
He waited for the pill to be formed and when it did, he directly brought it out. He caught the pill in his hand and looked at its name.
[Bronze Tiger's Rage: 58%]
"What??!" he was beyond surprised at this point. He had a hard time crossing 45% on normal pills and had barely reached 49% occasionally, yet today, he had somehow reached 58%.
'That… has to be incorrect right? No way that's correct,' he couldn't believe his own eyes and so he checked again. It was in fact 58%.
"But… But how?' he couldn't make head or tails of the situation. It was almost the exact scenario as when his Iron Fist Punch was all of a sudden much stronger.
'Wait a second…' Alex fell into deep thought. He thought of the similarity between the two situations and realized that the only thing similar between them was…
"Metal!" he shouted out. "That's it. Metal Energy. Iron Fist Punch uses Metal spiritual root, while the pill just now was had a majority of Metal energy. So, did I get a benefit regarding Metal Energy? But how?" he started thinking.
It didn't take him long to come up with the answer. "That blood essence. Did it somehow increase my affinity to metal energy?" he wondered. That was the only explanation he could come up with.
This certainly didn't feel like the advantage of Mortal Cleansing or Body cultivation. Besides, those came after he was already strong at using Iron Fist Punch, so the essence was the only answer.
"But why?" he thought for a while, but couldn't come up with an answer. Sighing to himself, he left the game.
He logged out and woke up in his new room, in his new bed. The temperature of the room was perfect thanks to the AC and the bed was softer than any bed he had been in.
'Such a shame I won't be able to sleep on it for long due to the new capsules.' He walked out of his room to the brightly lit corridor that leads to the living room. Past that he walked to the kitchen, only to find that Hannah was also there about to eat.
"Oh, you logged out?" she said as she looked at the time. "But it's only 7 pm, don't you want to play some more?" she asked.
"I do, but it's ingrained into me at this point that I should log out at 7 for dinner. Will take some time to adjust to the new changes," he said.
"Alright, sit down. I'll put some food for you in the microwave as well." Hannah set the timer on the microwave and sat back down on the chair.
"So, how do you like your new crib? Isn't it fancy?" she asked.
"Very, sister. I didn't even imagine that such a place was available in the world. I had thought that such places were only for the rich people with fancy business and titles," he said.
"Well, we can be considered rich now," Hannah said with a giggle. She then looked down at his hand and asked, "Does the cut hurt anymore?" she asked.
Alex looked down and finally remembered he even had one. "Oh yeah, it's fine. It's barely noticeable," he said.
DING
The microwave sounded after a few moments. Hannah went to bring out the food and laid it down in two portions. Without saying anything, they started eating.
"Mmm… This is quite good," Alex said.
"I learned the recipe from the Internet. It's quite easy, you can make it too I bet," she said.
"I doubt it, sister. Not after I have already lost my muscle memory. It will take me a long while to be able to do that," he said.
"Alright, let's stop talking about that. There is something that I've been wanting to talk to you about but haven't had the chance to," she said.
"What is it, sister?" he asked curiously.
"Do you have free time tomorrow?" she asked.
Alex thought for a bit and said, "Yes I do. It's Sunday tomorrow and I don't have school," he said.
"No, not just school. What about the game? It's your source of earning now, you have to treat it like work. You cannot miss a single day if it hampers your pay," Hannah said.
'Think of the game like work?' he was surprised that people had even thought of that. 'Why would I want to turn something I enjoy into work? Isn't that the easiest way to lose interest in something?' he thought.
However, he didn't voice it out loud. Instead, he replied to her earlier question, "I have some work during the day, but I am mostly free at night. I don't know how much that would help you," he said.
"Oh, that's perfect actually. I want you to accompany me somewhere tomorrow night," Hannah said quite excited about something.
"Where to, sister? Some sort of party or something?" he asked.
"Uh… no, more like… you'll see tomorrow. Let it be a surprise," Hannah said. She just couldn't hide the excitement in her eyes.
'What's going on with her tomorrow?' he wondered. The two of them talked about a few different things for a while and after taking care of the dishes, went back to their individual room.
Alex went up on the soft bed again and laid down on his back. 'Sigh, I just want to sleep in this bed for today,' he thought. But, he had, as Hannah had put it, work to do. So he put on his helmet and once again, logged back into the game.
