Changing Class! Acquiring Skills!

The night wind swept past the windowsill.

A faint, refreshing chill came with it.

From next door came the playful chatter of his eldest brother Jonathan talking to his girlfriend, along with the sound of flushing from the hallway bathroom whenever his second brother made his frequent nighttime trips.

"Those noises are still reassuring to hear." Ian shook his aching head. This time, waking up in the Nightmare World had not made him cry out too loudly.

"Homelander, Homelander. Red-eye syndrome, red-eye syndrome." Though Ian had returned to the real world, his mind was still on the mangled remains of that "Bootleg Superman."

Young people did not care whether something was bootleg or not. As long as he could shoot red beams from his eyes, fly through the sky invulnerable to blades and bullets, Ian would gladly grow up only to move into a mansion, marry a gorgeous woman, and live off her like a complete freeloader.

"Next time, I'll be prepared. Then I'll shout even louder for 'family.'" Ian secretly resolved to practice climbing trees properly.

To be fair.

Even now, he still could not understand why Homelander had appeared in the Marvel Universe. It was like a mismatched puzzle, so jarringly out of place that it felt like an absurd farce.

But precisely because he had witnessed such an absurd reality, Ian could not help considering a question.

"If Homelander can appear in the Marvel Universe, does that mean my psychiatrist really is Hannibal..." Ian felt that the implications might be terrifying if he thought too deeply about them.

He could not think about it too much. The more he thought, the worse his anxiety might become. Ian rubbed his temples, trying to erase that unsettling guess from his mind.

"System."

He began distracting himself and opened his personal interface. It still had that crude visual style, but a brand-new selectable option had appeared on it.

"Finally! I'm about to stop being human too!"

An inexplicable excitement surged through Ian. He eagerly opened the class selection function. There was currently only one lonely option inside—Berserker.

[Class System Unlocked]

[Current Available Classes: 1]

[Berserker Description: Use rage as fuel and berserk fury as a blade to tear through every obstacle!]

The badass-sounding description made Ian's blood race. After hesitating briefly, he decided to select [Berserker] first and bind it as his class.

How should he put it? Homelander could certainly unlock another class option, but who could resist becoming superhuman immediately? Ian knew very well that his system could grant him more than one class.

He had already confirmed that during his past experiments with the system. Getting a second class merely required fulfilling certain prerequisites, and Ian did not think those would be much trouble.

"Berserker Ian is ready to go!"

With Ian's confirmation, lines of text instantly appeared.

[Class Change Requirement: Reach the critical Rage Meter threshold (Current Rage Meter: 5/100)]

At the same time, a translucent little bar appeared in the lower-right corner of Ian's vision, like a status bar in a game, labeled [Rage Meter]. Near the lower portion of the bar was a conspicuous red marker line—clearly, that was the "critical threshold" he needed to break through.

He needed to reach at least sixty Rage Meter points.

"So I really am playing Earth OL." Ian could not help sighing. With a thought, he could hide the Rage Meter display in the lower-right corner.

Raising his anger was not exactly difficult.

Ian closed his eyes and tried hard to recall the car accident from his previous life that had taken his life.

The speeding Apocalypse Red Knight, the driver's drowsy face, and the brakes that had never sounded from beginning to end... all of it surfaced in his mind with perfect clarity.

Anger began to grow within him.

In a fit of rage.

Ian got angry.

[Current Rage Meter: 13/100]

This was already Ian doing his best to stir up his emotions. It could not be helped; too much time had passed. The anger he should have felt had long been worn away by the passage of time.

"Tsk, it was too long ago. I can't get worked up anymore." Ian touched his ears, which had not even turned red, feeling rather helpless. Then, he changed tactics—physical stimulation.

"Smack!"

Ian raised his hand and slapped himself.

Was he angry?

[Current Rage Meter: 11/100]

It seemed he had not merely failed to get angry.

He even vaguely felt refreshed.

"Damn it!"

Ian did not dare hit himself again. He was afraid he might awaken some strange trait. After thinking for a moment, he left his room and entered the kitchen, rummaging through cabinets.

Chili peppers?

Take a bite.

Wasabi?

Take two bites.

Ian felt the spiciness shoot straight to the top of his head, while his tears and snot came into intimate contact.

[Current Rage Meter: 21/100]

"Not enough, nowhere near enough..."

Ian panted as his gaze swept over the refrigerator. Suddenly, inspiration struck. His impressive 2.3 Supreme Wisdom came into play—well, intelligence on the status panel did not actually represent true wisdom. It only represented mental activity, learning ability, and logical reasoning strength. Still, that did not stop Ian from believing he possessed Supreme Wisdom.

Ten minutes later.

A mass of indescribable sludge churned in Ian's blender—chicken breast, chili peppers, wasabi, bitter melon, and several handfuls of rotten vegetable leaves that had been sitting there for who knew how many days.

After concocting a drink that could only be called "shit among shits," Ian did not consume it immediately. Instead, he returned to his room, turned on his computer, and opened a game called [Dota Alliance]. Ian knew his second brother Jordan's account and password by heart. He quickly logged in and began playing.

Just as expected.

In the first match, his teammate went AFK.

In the second match, the ADC used Flash to feed a kill.

In the third match, the jungler sleepwalked the entire game.

In the fourth match, the mid laner turned on his mic and started flaming people.

In the fifth match... every lane collapsed. With a record of 0/31, Ian perfectly blended in with his teammates and completely tilted. While chugging the drink he had mixed, he looked at his [Rage Meter].

[Current Rage Meter: 56/100]

Good, good, good!

He was indeed nearing the point of losing his mind!

But it was still not enough!

To prevent his mood from calming down and his [Rage Meter] from dropping, Ian seized the moment. Gritting his teeth and hardening his heart, he raised his fist, intending to smash it into his indescribable parts.

However.

His sanity remained.

In the end, he could not bring himself to gamble away the happiness of the rest of his life.

"Bang!"

He redirected the punch into his own nose. The good news was that he was not a masochist, and the pain gave him the anger he wanted. The bad news was that the pain from injuring his nose was incredibly intense.

"Hiss!"

It was the kind of pain that made one suck in a cold breath.

Still.

It was worth it.

[Current Rage Meter: 64/100]

Actually, he had overdone it a little. The punch had been too hard; he had not timed it right. As Ian regretted it, a new system prompt sounded by his ear, while his body simultaneously began to undergo strengthening changes.

[Ding!]

[Class Change Successful!]

[Class: Berserker Acquired!]

[Basic Template Loaded!]

[Talent Skill Acquired—Blood-Reversal Furnace]

[Berserker Class Skill Tree Unlocked!]