Looking at the black scythe slowly sinking into the floor, slicing through the concrete like tofu, Lin Fan felt his scalp go numb.
"Holy crap! No, don't!!"
Lin Fan's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.
From his predecessor's memories, he knew this was a cheap public-rental apartment that had been poorly maintained for years.
The floor wasn't even as thick as his skin, probably!
If this thing punched through the floor, it wouldn't just be him—everyone in the whole building would probably be sent straight to meet their great-grandmas...
"Up! Get your ass up!!"
Without hesitation, Lin Fan stretched out his right hand and clenched it sharply toward the Calamity.
His invisible Spiritual Force caught the black handle just before it could punch all the way through the floor, holding it fast.
Hum!
The scythe stopped sinking, but...
"Whew..."
Lin Fan sucked in a sharp breath. Cold sweat burst across his forehead, and his temples throbbed.
Heavy!
Damn, it was heavy!
Lin Fan gritted his teeth, his cheeks bulging as he stared at the massive thing. Its handle was two meters long, and its blade curved like the Grim Reaper's smile.
"What kind of weapon is this? It's a damn mountain!"
If he hadn't just awakened his Spiritual Force, and if that bout of "marrow cleansing" hadn't forcibly boosted his physical abilities, he probably would've exhausted himself to the point of vomiting blood just from that.
The worst part was that he had to keep holding it up.
He couldn't let it touch the ground or relax his hold.
That meant he'd have to devote half his brain to fighting the thing's gravity, whether he was eating, sleeping, or squatting on the toilet.
Lin Fan's lips twitched, and he managed a smile more painful than crying.
But before he could catch his breath, his back suddenly grew heavy.
A chill shot up his spine.
"??"
Lin Fan looked over his shoulder and saw a pair of silver wings slowly unfurling behind him.
"...At least you're not heavy."
Lin Fan immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
As for the spaceship...
Lin Fan looked at the ring that had somehow appeared on his finger. Thankfully, the ship was inside the Space Ring. Otherwise...
"With a place like this and strength like mine, if I dared take it out, Hong would probably claim it as his ride in a matter of minutes."
"And all this money..."
Lin Fan glanced at the four kinds of currency piled up in front of him, then at the lonely "3200.50" in his phone balance. His expression turned wonderfully complicated.
It was like owning property across half the Milky Way, only to find yourself unable to afford a taxi when you stepped outside.
"Heh. I'm sitting on a fortune, yet I still have to worry about tomorrow's breakfast."
"Without an interstellar network, what's the difference between all this money and scrap paper?"
Lin Fan rolled his eyes, grumbling to himself as he carefully moved the floating scythe sideways with his Spiritual Force, afraid it might bump into the rickety old furniture around him.
"Wait, don't I have a Space Ring?"
Lin Fan suddenly remembered, and his lips twitched.
"Am I some kind of lucky idiot?"
But just as he was about to toss the Calamity and Sky Splitter into the Space Ring, a pale blue box popped up above the scythe:
[Calamity: Growth-capable]
[Growth requirement: All metallic substances.]
"All metallic substances?"
Lin Fan narrowed his eyes, catching the key phrase.
His gaze swept around the room before finally settling on the watermelon knife in the corner. It was so rusty that it was hard to tell what color it had originally been.
His predecessor had bought it for self-defense. It was a five-yuan street-stall special, usually used to slice watermelons. There was even some old, unidentified syrup stuck to it. Just looking at it was embarrassing.
"Go."
His Spiritual Force swept around the knife, lifting it into the air and gently pressing it against the black scythe's blade.
Szzzt—!
There was no metallic clang like he'd expected. Instead, it was like dropping an ice cube into a pot of hot oil.
Then the hard watermelon knife visibly softened, as though something had sucked it dry. Its metal structure crumbled in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, the whole knife turned into a pile of grayish-white powder that scattered to the floor with a rustle.
The black scythe merely flashed with a faint gleam and shuddered slightly, as if burping after a meal—and complaining that the "appetizer" wasn't even enough to get stuck between its teeth.
[Consumption successful]
[Growth progress: +0.001%.]
[Current burden compatibility: +0.001%.]
"?...?"
Lin Fan stared at the number with its three decimal places, feeling as if a flock of crows had flown over his head.
A whole knife only increased it by that much?
This thing was a bottomless pit!
Still, he could feel the pressure on his Spiritual Force easing by the tiniest bit, and his thoughts began to stir.
If eating iron made it stronger, that was a deal worth pursuing.
But the problem was...
"Should I go to a scrap yard?"
Lin Fan looked at his pitiful balance and immediately killed that idea in the cradle.
With what little money he had, even buying scrap iron wouldn't be enough to fill the scythe's handle.
Besides, that would be too inefficient. Industrial scrap couldn't compare to the good stuff.
Lin Fan put the Calamity, Sky Splitter, and the pile of coins on the floor into the Space Ring, then walked to the window and opened it a crack.
His gaze passed over layer upon layer of dilapidated apartment buildings and fell on the towering defensive wall in the distance.
Beyond it lay the place ordinary people never wanted to visit in their entire lives—the Wilderness Zone.
But to him, it was something else.
Broken Kro Alloy, crashed fighter jets, weapons abandoned by martial artists...
How was that a wasteland? It was a free, high-end buffet!
"But to enjoy the buffet, I need a ticket to get in."
Lin Fan sighed and glanced at the two "ancestors" in his ring.
He'd originally thought that getting a system meant he could just lie back and coast. It seemed he'd been far too naive.
These days, going solo was fine, but being unregistered definitely wasn't.
Without a "Martial Artist Certificate," he wouldn't be able to sell anything valuable he found.
"Looks like I can't go back to school, but I still have to visit a martial arts school."
Lin Fan rubbed his throbbing temples.
"But before that, I need to see what this True Self can do."
"True Self."
Lin Fan silently called out in his mind.
Hum!
Deep within his sea of consciousness, the dormant Bronze Hall lit up instantly.
Then a figure of light emerged from the darkness, rapidly stretching and shifting until it became a tiny person who looked exactly like Lin Fan.
It wore the same school uniform and had the same short hair. The only difference was its eyes: cold and emotionless, devoid of anything unnecessary, like a robot's.
Looking at it made Lin Fan feel as though he were staring into a mirror.
"How do I use this thing...?"
Lin Fan tentatively issued a command. "True Self, practice the 36 Basic Martial Arts Forms."
Almost as soon as the command was given, the little "Lin Fan" raised a hand and began with the opening stance.
Its movements were slow, but steady.
Every muscle stretch and every movement was so precise that it looked like a textbook demonstration.
"Whoa, this is really useful."
After watching for a while, Lin Fan withdrew his consciousness from the hall.
He lay on the floor and let out a long breath.
As he stared up at the shabby ceiling, he felt something he couldn't quite describe.
"What a damn strange day..."
Before you continue