I Became The Administrator of A Sacred Ground

[ Sacred Ground Secondary Core: Ambrosia Pool ]

[ Level 1 ]

[ Current Production: 3 Units ]

[ Current Ingredients: - ]

[ Allot/Consume ]

As soon as the production ended, Euri saw the number of productions turn 3 from 0 units. Considering he had put in a total of 3 units of fruits, 1 beast core, and 1 beast body, he concluded that the ambrosia output had been spread across the highest number of units. 

If he had put in only 1 unit of fruit as a raw ingredient, would the output be only 1 unit of ambrosia? If the number had been higher, for example, 7, would the pool produce 7 units?

Was there a dilution effect as well? All these questions required in-depth observation and testing. But now it was time to harvest his rewards, and so Euri put all those thoughts aside to tap on the [ Consume ] option.

The game even gave him the option to select how many units of Ambrosia he wanted for himself, making it convenient to take 1 unit only as an experiment. A moment after the confirmation, Euri felt a slight heaviness in his stomach, as if he had just drunk a glass of ice-cold water. 

The coldness didn't spread anywhere, nor did it give him diarrhea like he had feared. Instead, like ice melting away and losing its coldness, the sensation in his stomach disappeared. 

"Half an hour...Can any physical change manifest so quickly? Should I go get myself tested?"

Euri was timing the whole thing. As soon as he felt the last bit of iciness fade away, it occurred to him to check his profile in the game. He had forgotten that his profile had a stat for his physique as well!

[ Administrator Profile ]

[ Rank-0 Lifeform ]

[ Physique: 1.01 ]

[ Special Attribute: - ]

[ Familiars: Scout Dog, Brawler Rat, Scavenger Rat, Dread Spider ]

[ Administration Skill: Shepherding ]

"An increase of 0.01?" While ecstatic that it had worked, Euri inevitably ended up calculating his future according to this growth rate.

Even if he sacrificed half the beasts he could hunt each day to make ambrosia, he could improve his physique by 0.01 each day, and that meant, to reach 2 points in terms of physique, he had to repeat this process 100 times!

Even if he used up every beast to enter the sacred ground from now on, it might still take more than a month to reach that stage. And this was with the supposition that his scavenger rat could find common foodstuffs at least once a day. Euri doubted it'd be so easy.

"Still, an improvement is a blessing, no matter what. I just have to see whether this increase has any relation to its source creature. If the beast's core was of a higher level, if the beast's physique was stronger than mine, maybe the ambrosia could increase my stat by more than just 0.01! I have to keep testing!'

There was also the matter of ascending to a Rank-1 lifeform. Euri knew that a good portion of the superhumans leading their civilization had reached Rank-1. Although no organization was allowed to reveal the details to the public, rumors and data from research labs were always getting leaked by cybercriminals.

As far as he understood, to be considered a Rank-1 lifeform, one had to have at least one superhuman ability, which, in his game's language, would be a Special Attribute stat. Most superhumans also displayed higher than ordinary strength, speed, and thinking capabilities. 

Those among them who had brought over beasts from their adventures beyond the dimensional gateways were even able to command their beasts as easily as Euri did in the game. 

Euri had read in one deepnet forum that certain highly experienced superhumans were able to fuse with their beasts and transform into nearly unkillable hybrid creatures. To them, wiping out a large team of armed forces was as easy as wiping their ass.

"I wonder if such abilities would be available in that skill roulette..."

Daydreaming about a day where that happened, Euri consumed the remaining two units of Ambrosia, and watched his physique stat reach 1.03 points.

Before leaving home, he spent a while inspecting his body in the mirror. There were no discernible changes, but the wound on his head did feel somewhat less sensitive compared to one hour ago. Or it could just be his imagination playing the placebo trick on him.

His journey to the metro circuit took a bit longer than usual, as he wanted to make sure nobody was going to find easy success in tailing him. He went through two malls, three densely packed intersections, and even changed his clothes once and put on a mask before blending into a large group of schoolmates near a toilet stall. 

From that point, he was always in the middle of a large group of kids his age, all wearing uniforms. Nobody with ill intentions was going to approach him till the metro stopped near the school campus. Euri was just breathing his first sigh of relief after entering the campus when he felt a rough hand land on his back.

Turning around, he found himself face-to-face with the troublemaker of his class—Mekyle. This guy considered himself a close confidante to Baldy Bennet, chasing after him like a dog whenever he wasn't in class. 

"You need to come with me for a minute. Someone wants to see you," Mekyle said, putting an unnecessary emphasis on what he thought was an element of mystery.

Trying not to roll his eyes, Euri followed obediently. He would have sought out the baldy anyway. They had a lot to talk about, especially regarding what happened yesterday.

Bennet, as usual, was sitting outside the cafeteria with a few 'friends', trying to copy his father's habits by forcing himself to drink red tea every couple of hours. Seeing Euri appear in the corner, a big smile formed on his face for some reason.

"Euri, right?" he said in a fawning tone while pulling a chair out for him to sit face to face.

"I heard about your unlucky encounter. Rest assured, as long as I can track down the perpetrators, they won't get off easy! I'll make sure all of them end up wearing a thicker bandage!"

Sitting across the table, Euri's eyes bore into Bennet's pair. The man Bennet had sent to his house yesterday to collect information had not returned. Bennet should be aware of this.

So what was with this strange politeness? He didn't talk like this even with the teachers...

"I thought about sending a guy to your house when I heard about it from your friends," Bennet said.

"But this incident is hurtful for the image I'm trying to cultivate. So I thought it'd be better if I met you personally for the discussion."

Euri's gaze sharpened further. So he was denying sending anyone to his house. Did he really not do it? Or was this a trap?

Either way, Euri knew the optimal choice was to admit the truth.... Or at least admit the part where he appeared innocent. So he immediately put on a surprised countenance. 

"What do you mean, big brother?! A guy already came to my house, saying you sent him! I even gave him a video I took of those guys. Are you saying he was an impostor?"

The smile disappeared from Bennet's face as quick as a lightning flash. He took a sip from his cup and replied, "Did they, now? Someone claimed he was my agent and tested you? My, my, I fear he might have been a friend of your assailants, Euri. He must have come to see whether you had enough evidence on your hand to track them down!"

Bennet's acting was pretty decent, even better than Euri considering certain professional aspects. But that was where he made the mistake. 

This style of faking honesty was too inconsistent with Bennet's usual speech pattern. This guy usually cursed someone's mother every three sentences. It was evident now that he had prepared a script for this conversation. But the scriptwriter was not familiar with how Bennet treated his schoolmates. 

But that was none of Euri's business. Since Bennet wanted to disassociate himself from the incident, Euri could just let him do so. Bennet hadn't ordered that man to attack Euri's family. 

But the fact remained that Bennet's man did attack him. And Euri wasn't going to let go of this golden opportunity to use Bennet's 'guilt'!

Leaning over the table, he stared at the bald young man impassively and said, "Do you think I handed over the evidence without verifying who sent him? Do you want to know what he did after I gave him the video, Bennet?"