Meals Are a Big Problem (Please Recommend! Please Bookmark!)

Thanks to reader ~Benben~ for the 88* tip! Thanks to reader ~AD≈ap;ap; Sword Boy~ for the 100 tip! Much appreciated. Honestly, Qidian hasn't received any tips these past few days, but the bookstore has gotten a whole bunch.

Also, Big Tree has something to say to everyone: I took a look, and among books from the same period, among fellow newcomers, and under the same recommendations, my favorites have been increasing pretty well. But! But! There aren't even 1,000 yet! So embarrassing. There are only two days left on the recommendation period, so Big Tree will just act cute. I can roll around and beg for favorites and recommendations!

Thinking of this, Loa closed his eyes and chose to use the skill.

Buzz~

A faint hum rose up. His magic power began to vibrate, magical markings started to move, and scales began emerging one after another. The transparent scales were quickly dyed a pale blue, then shifted into deep blue.

Whoosh!

Two bat wings abruptly spread out inside the room, and the gale they whipped up sent everything in the room tumbling about. Frigid air swept through, rapidly freezing everything in the room. An icy, bone-piercing wind suddenly blew open the window, freezing the moisture carried in from the sea and forming a ribbon-like strip of ice crystals.

Loa looked at his hands. His tile-like nails had turned into the familiar claws he knew well. The pristine white talons gave off a gentle sheen, yet their sharp curves made people shudder.

After sensing the state of his body, Loa nodded in satisfaction.

"If I don't engage in high-intensity combat, my magic power consumption can barely keep up with my recovery rate. Everything else feels about the same as when I use it on my own, but I can control my magic power more delicately and won't throw it into disorder through clumsy manipulation. Overall, it's far better than me messing around blindly."

First Release was something Loa had achieved by using Maker Magic inside his own body, allowing it to devour ice-element magic power and forcibly "wake up" Dragon Force. Dragon Force had terrible morning temper and rampaged uncontrollably inside him, which was why Maker Magic could not be used.

Now that this form had been classified as a system skill, it naturally would not be so crude and violent. It directly stimulated the Dragon Force within him, bringing it to an awakened state and causing dragon scales to burst forth.

This way, not only was Maker Magic no longer restricted, but thanks to the enhancement from Dragon Force, ordinary ice he created was no weaker than ice created through Dragon Slayer Magic.

So now Loa could face Momonga head-on and say, "Give me five minutes, and I'll make you feel good!"

Just as Loa was reveling in the joy of his greatly increased strength, an angry roar echoed through the dormitory building.

"Loa!!! Twice in one night! Are you seriously not going to let anyone sleep?!"

Oh, right.

This form released dragon might.

A few days later, Marineford.

Over the past few days, Loa had finally gotten some good sleep.

The Combat Assessment had ended, and the recruits had been given a week-long vacation. That was an extremely rare occurrence. Freed from their exhausting training, the overwhelming majority chose to sleep in.

It was not until the sun was high in the sky that he reluctantly decided to get up.

Because the cafeteria would stop serving food in another hour or so! To a glutton like Loa, that was practically fatal.

"Food, food! Woohoo!"

After quickly washing up, Loa flung open his door and rushed outside.

It was worth mentioning that, with Loa's room as the center, nobody lived above, below, left, or right of him anymore.

Living next door to someone who loved to hole up in his room and experiment with moves and develop his abilities, with only a wall separating them, truly tested one's patience.

Because you never knew when you would wake up frozen or frightened. Why was the floor leaking again? Why would you wake up and find that the clothes you had washed the night before were frozen stiff, hanging from the line like air-dried salted fish?

They could not beat him, so they chose a strategic retreat. The dormitory was not full anyway, and all they had to do was tell the old man downstairs and register to switch rooms.

There were few pedestrians on the way to the cafeteria. The usual sight of recruits flooding into the cafeteria like unleashed huskies at mealtime had disappeared.

Instead, there were scattered figures trudging forward like zombies in a horror movie, yawning as they walked.

Loa greeted them along the way, slinging arms over shoulders as they headed to the cafeteria together.

Ms. S was not around today. Apparently, she had gone back to her hometown in the North Blue for vacation. She had left headquarters aboard a supply ship on the day the recruits departed. So the one cooking in the cafeteria now was the second-in-command, a man who was neat and clean but still looked like a bandit.

When he saw Loa walk into the cafeteria laughing and chatting, his expression changed. He threw down his ladle and ran into the kitchen with a thump-thump-thump, then locked the door from the inside with a click.

The group stared blankly at the scene, their hands holding trays frozen stiff in midair.

"What's going on?"

"No idea. Looks like he's scared?"

"Scared?" Loa pondered it, braced himself on a table, and craned his neck to peer inside. He saw two large vats of curry bubbling away, a huge pot of rice placed in front of them, and then nothing else!

Loa stared at the scene in shock, then immediately flew into a rage. "You bastard! Are you trying to starve me to death?!"

Two large vats of curry and a pot of rice were enough to fill around a hundred recruits. The Recruit Camp was still on vacation today, and there were not many people left at the base, so it might have been enough.

But Loa's share definitely had not been counted!

Because his strength had increased, he could now eat enough food for a hundred people all by himself.

If he had been a tyrant running rampant through the Recruit Camp, it would have been fine. He could just seize the food and fill himself up first, leaving everyone else to starve.

But unfortunately, he was not.

Loa was quite popular in the Recruit Camp. He could neither bring himself to do, nor lower his pride enough to do, things like terrorizing the neighborhood and exploiting the people.

Feeling the cold air spilling from Loa's body, his fellow recruits wisely chose to stay away. At the same time, they carried off the rice and curry from the nearby pots. If it froze solid, there really would be nothing left to eat.

"Come out! I promise I won't beat you to death!"

Ice crystals sprayed from Loa's mouth, while blue energy flickered in and out of existence on his hands. The onlookers shook their heads at the sight. Not beat him to death? Who would believe that? One punch from him and the man would turn into an ice pop. Clean him up a little, and they could send out a casualty notice right away.

Just then, a deep voice spoke up.

"Well~ it's fine, Loa. Besides, Uncle Art didn't do it on purpose. Come to think of it, it was because of you. You were fiddling around with that move of yours again last night, right? Uncle Art was preparing ingredients for today at the time, but the aura you released scared him so badly that his hand slipped. It started a fire and burned the entire stockpile clean. He still has to go receive punishment this afternoon."

The voice was familiar. Loa turned around and helplessly spread his hands at the newcomer. "Even if that's the case, we still have to figure out what we're eating for lunch today! Don't tell me you're full, Arudo."

The newcomer was Arudo, a member of the Elite Camp. He wore a casual shirt, floral shorts, and wooden clogs, looking thoroughly relaxed. In his left hand was a tray not much bigger than his palm. Not a single grain of rice remained on it, with only curry sauce lingering around the edges.

After placing the tray in the return area, Arudo sighed. "How could I be full? The chef at our Elite Camp got sick today, so I could only come out to find food. My appetite may not compare to yours, but it's still much bigger than an ordinary person's. I was planning to take a break, but I ran into this mess instead. Really..."

Arudo stood four meters tall, like a brown bear standing there. He had an astonishing appetite every meal, and before Loa joined the Marines, he had always held the title of biggest eater.

But compared to Loa, Arudo felt ashamed of his own inadequacy and willingly handed over the title of biggest eater.

Though Loa was not very happy about it.

The two stood facing each other, sighed in unison, and drooped their heads.

At that moment, one of the recruits sharing curry rice suggested, "Did you forget? Elite Camp members can eat at the military cafeteria. Why don't you try there? There should still be time."

Loa raised his head in shock and looked at Arudo. "There's such a rule—no, there's such a thing?"

Arudo also raised his head in shock. "I didn't know!"

The recruit who had spoken twitched at the corner of his mouth. Fine. Even the Elite Camp members did not know about something, yet he, a mere extra, knew it so clearly. You two were really discouraging.

Forget it. I want some peace and quiet.

But under the threatening gazes of two famously violent individuals, he chose to compromise. Getting beaten up over a meal was not worth it. Everyone knew how terrifying Loa was when he had not eaten enough. The rations snatched during the Combat Assessment were proof enough.

"Yes, this rule has been in effect since the year before last. On one hand, the Recruit Camp cafeteria has too much workload and sometimes cannot keep up, so the system was approved. On the other hand, it's also meant to encourage the Navy's rising talents to communicate with veteran soldiers and maintain the cohesion of the ranks. That's all I know..."

Releasing the recruit's collar, Loa looked at Arudo. "Going to eat?"

"Let's go together."

I checked the book reviews and found that readers were more or less urging updates—not that sentence, but discussing Loa's future direction. After reading them, I remembered a comment from many days ago and went to open it again.

Sure enough, my book really has so little depth that people have almost guessed everything that will happen in the future. Sigh, this really is...