First Form

"99%."

Chen Chong's chest and abdomen rose and fell, his breath whistling like the wind as he exerted his full strength to circulate his Breathing Method.

Two tubes of Nutrient Paste already lay empty on the table, with over a dozen remaining.

He feared a frustrating, Pinduoduo-style stall in progress, so he had prepared amply; he was determined to see what this mysterious number would bring once it reached 100% tonight.

After finishing another round of the Breathing Method, Chen Chong felt his entire body heating up, his strength surging, and a slight hunger gnawing at his gut.

Both his airways and blood vessels felt stretched and distended; the burden of the Breathing Method was indeed heavy. Yet, as the Nutrient Paste in his stomach digested, the discomfort rapidly faded.

It's truly disgusting, even when you're hungry.

Chen Chong tore open another tube of Nutrient Paste, thinking to himself.

He had heard from his uncle that many years ago, when Nutrient Paste first became popular, there was a vast variety of flavors. Some could even perfectly simulate the taste of famous restaurant dishes—they were as delicious as could be.

Back then, the Nutrient Paste from various brands was affordable, highly nutritious, and tasty, quickly threatening to replace regular meals.

However, it was said that shortly after, the Central City implemented some policy, and the delicious Nutrient Paste was pulled from the shelves. The versions that followed became as foul-tasting as possible.

Consequently, any family with the means still treated rice and grain from food factories as their main meals, spending more and more money on food.

This was precisely the goal of those giant corporations in Central City.

This world was on the verge of eliminating hunger, but the giant corporations only care about profit, not how many people starve to death.

This was an unkind world for ordinary people.

The path for upward mobility was nearly severed, while the space to fall into the Wasteland was vast—take his current situation, for example.

Chen Chong took a breath, opened another tube of Nutrient Paste, slurped it into his mouth, and slowly chewed the substance that felt like modeling clay before swallowing it bit by bit.

Thinking too far ahead was useless; breaking through his current predicament was what mattered.

Chen Chong lowered his gaze, alternating between practicing the Breathing Method and the Combat Drill to aid in the digestion of the food.

99%... 100%.

Finally, the number before his eyes flickered, reaching three digits for the first time.

Chen Chong, who had been throwing punches at the moonlight outside the window, suddenly froze, as if a mysterious entity had pressed the pause button on him.

Seen from the front, his eyes rapidly turned a deep, blood-red, with a faint hexagram flickering within them.

Meanwhile, Chen Chong's own consciousness sank into a vast sea of stars, where the Hexagonal Ancient Well appeared before him once again.

The starry sky flickered incessantly, and a massive will was rising, making Chen Chong tremble.

"First Form, [Devour], activated."

The gargantuan intent resonated directly within Chen Chong's mind.

With a boom, the sea of stars shook, and a phantom flew out from the ancient well, rising and twisting until it loomed over the entire starry expanse.

This phantom resembled a dragon and an elephant, a lion and a tiger, a qilin yet not a qilin; it was unlike any exotic beast Chen Chong had ever known.

It had long, slender horns atop its head like an antelope held high, and mysterious patterns on its belly that looked like a wide-mouthed human face.

Its lips bore sharp teeth like precious swords, and its back sprouted wings as if ready to take flight. Its four hooves galloped, its long tail was like a dragon's, its eyes were blood-red, and its lips curled into a sinister smile.

The image of the exotic beast was extremely strange—elegant yet three parts sinister, and within that sinister air lay ten parts dominance. It looked less like a divine beast and more like a ferocious one—or rather, it leaned more toward the latter.

The ferocious beast phantom circled the sea of stars, turned its head, and slowly lowered it, its scarlet eyes reflecting Chen Chong's shadow.

The next moment, the phantom swooped down with a whoosh, flying into Chen Chong's forehead.

Chen Chong snapped his eyes open.

A flash of red light flickered in his pupils, and he gasped violently, as if he had just received oxygen after a long period of suffocation.

"First Form, Devour..."

Chen Chong murmured.

In that very instant, some information had inexplicably appeared in his mind.

Information regarding this "form."

What was certain was that his ability had indeed evolved.

First was the digestion of food and the conversion of energy.

His appetite was larger, his digestion faster, and his conversion efficiency higher.

If he consumed only ultra-processed food like Nutrient Paste, he no longer needed to excrete, with his energy utilization rate reaching over 90%.

The effects of Food Healing, as well as the enhancement of his own body, had naturally increased significantly.

And the most obvious benefit right now... was that he could now completely immunize himself against the side effects of the Earth Dragon Soup.

Previously, he only had a certain level of resistance, but now Chen Chong could feel that the addictive components of the Earth Dragon Soup deposited in his body had been digested and wiped out in an instant!

This dispelled a lingering worry in his heart, and his entire body felt light.

Second, he had gained a new ability: [Force Devour].

His body could now devour a portion of the impact energy it received.

It was as if a beast from the void was there to swallow the impact force.

This meant the effectiveness of physical strikes against him would be greatly diminished—in layman's terms, his resistance to damage had become extremely high.

There was an upper limit to the Devour ability, the boundaries of which still needed testing, but Chen Chong could feel that the threshold for this ability was very high.

Finally, there was the direct strengthening of his body.

It was as if his body had undergone a baptism in the void.

His original constitution had not been good due to malnutrition, but now it had been completely compensated for.

He had grown a few centimeters taller, the density of his muscles and bones had increased, and he seemed to have grown a size larger; he could no longer be called thin or weak, but rather well-proportioned.

Most crucially, the progress of his Bone Tempering had shot up like a rocket, leaping forward by a significant margin.

His bones were far sturdier and thicker than before, as if he had been practicing his Breathing Method for months!

Chen Chong clenched his fist abruptly; the unprecedented grip strength gave him the illusion that he could snap a steel pipe with his bare hands.

"If my previous punching power was 100kg, it has at least doubled now, at the very least!"

A punching power of over 200kg was already at the level of those heavyweight fighters from his past life.

Not to mention that this was a comprehensive growth in his "realm," or physical fitness, meaning his speed, neural reflexes, and the like would exceed those of an Official Fighter.

"As I am now, in terms of physique, I should have reached the standard of a Thunder Dragon Official Fighter. If I add Devour to the mix... of course, I still lack combat technique and experience, and I need to practice my Breathing Method and Combat Drill."

Chen Chong knew he still had shortcomings, but he was neither arrogant nor impetuous.

Because for him, this was only the beginning.

His evolved physique would grant him greater endurance and higher training efficiency, allowing him to increase the daily practice frequency of his Breathing Method and Combat Drill.

Meanwhile, his improved digestive capacity could compensate for the increased consumption, accelerating the pace of his physical strengthening.

His progress would be rapid.

He might still have many shortcomings now, but he would look like a new person every few days.

By the time ten days had passed, he would be on an entirely different level compared to who he was now.

With this in mind, he had a high degree of confidence in his first match in the ring.

Calculating his future arrangements, Chen Chong slowly clenched his fists.

From his birthday until now, only a few days had passed, yet Chen Chong had undergone a change that could be called a rebirth.

The beginning of it all was this mysterious birthday gift.

"Is the First Form already this strong? And there is a Second Form, or perhaps even more forms waiting for me..."

He had already begun to look forward to his next evolution.

Looking at the progress bar that had returned to "1%" before his eyes, Chen Chong stood in the dark room, ravenously hungry.