[NunuNote: Thanks to OfcSoccer4 you are gonna get 2 more Bonus Chapters tomorrow! Sorry for not delivering it today, I had to deal with some things IRL and just saw the gift now, Thank you again OfcSoccer4!!]
After Lohan sent the photo, it was Isabella’s turn to be at a loss for words.
Although she really liked the photo, and just like Lohan, had also downloaded it instantly, she had no idea how to reply to his message.
’Damn, I can’t just stay quiet and ignore this, but I also can’t reply saying I thought he was hot, can I?! Arrrghh!!’
She was going crazy trying to figure out how to respond, feeling embarrassed about being as open as Lohan had been, but also feeling that if she didn’t come up with a satisfactory reply, he might feel bad that she wasn’t responding, just as she was anxious for his reply.
After thinking it over a bit more, Isabella finally came up with a satisfactory reply.
[Lisa: Okay, congratulations, you managed to change my mind... those wolf ears really did make you cuter.]
As soon as she sent the message, Lisa mentally commanded her communicator to shut down completely and buried her head in the pillow, so embarrassed that she didn’t even want to see Lohan’s reply anymore.
On the other end, Lohan read her reply and let out a proud laugh, happy that she had liked the photo he sent too.
To be honest, Lohan was also a little embarrassed and anxious about her reaction, wondering for a few moments if he had crossed the line by sending a photo to her as well.
But thinking that she was the one who sent the photo first, he calmed down.
And with her reply, he was completely relaxed.
-xXx-
The next day, Lohan woke up feeling refreshed.
With his physical functions enhanced after the evolution, after just over 4 hours of sleep he was already completely rested.
Even though he had gone to sleep at 2 a.m. the previous night after playing late into the night and chatting with Lisa before bed, he woke up shortly after 6 a.m. as rested as if he had slept for the previous 10 hours!
Thinking it might be a little too early to log into Elysium, and realizing that Lisa hadn’t sent any messages since that reply yesterday, Lohan decided to leave the house to buy some new supplies.
Lohan got out of bed and, for a moment, just stood there, feeling the usual numbness in his legs simply no longer exist. The air in the room was still heavy and smelled of heavy metal, but his lungs now processed that "chemical soup" without him feeling the slightest burn, even as he chose to digest everything available in the air.
Before, he used the digestive filter to breathe and digest only pure air, but now, even the impurities acted as nourishment for him.
He walked to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face. Looking at the cracked mirror, the change was undeniable.
It wasn’t just about the muscles that were becoming denser and more defined beneath his pale skin, but the vitality he exuded was entirely different from the other people in the Lower Zone.
His blue eyes practically shone when he worked his digestion at high intensity, even the Mana lines beneath his skin glowing faintly when he used it.
’I’m going to have to be very careful about my public appearances...’ he thought, putting the Energy Contraction that Yrneha had taught him into practice at the highest possible level, trying to disguise the aura he exuded.
Seeing the empty fridge, Lohan grabbed his phone and checked his Atlas Bank account.
Thanks to Lisa’s insistence on paying a 3:1 rate for the silver coins he sold, his bank account now showed over $6,000 in credits.
For someone who lived with an overdrawn credit limit and owed 30,000 to the bank, seeing that amount was like looking at a mirage in the desert.
Smiling to himself, he put on his black hoodie, adjusted his protective mask to cover as much of his body as possible, and left the house.
Sector 5 of the Lower Zone, where Lohan lived, was bustling as always.
Patrol drones buzzed above the smog, and people walked hunched over, exhausted, heading to work early in the day despite it being Saturday.
However, despite the hustle and bustle, Lohan glided through the crowd with ease.
He felt the vibrations of the ground through his feet, mapping the position of every person around him before even looking directly at them, avoiding direct physical contact with anyone to ensure he didn’t bump into someone and cause trouble for himself.
Upon arriving at the local market, he ignored the standard synthetic food section and headed straight for the "Medical and High-Performance Supplements" area. There, on shelves protected by force fields, were the sachets of Platinum-Grade Nutritional Solution.
Unlike the Grade A he used to take, which cost very little for an entire week, each sachet of this new solution cost a staggering $100 credits.
For the former Lohan, $100 credits was a staggering amount, something unimaginable to spend on something like a nutritional sachet.
It’s worth noting that even some natural foods weren’t nearly as expensive as that.
But these Sachets had a unique feature. They were extremely saturated with nutrients, to the point that if an average person ate one of these and didn’t go through a series of extreme workouts to burn off that energy, they could get sick and end up in the hospital!
Usually only soldiers, bodybuilders, or gang fighters bought this, given the value and the post-use cost.
"I’ll take 20 sachets," Lohan told the clerk, who looked at him with disdain upon seeing his cheap clothes, which bore no gang emblems or anything of the sort, but whose expression quickly changed when Lohan held his phone up for contactless payment.
Ding!
[Transfer complete: -$2,000.00]
In shock, the clerk handed over the cooler containing the 20 pouches in an almost ceremonial manner, staring in disbelief at that unassuming man.
Lohan took the supplies and left.
He knew this was a necessary investment. With his body at Level 11, cheap solutions were like trying to fuel a rocket with lawnmower gas.
He needed high nutritional density to support the expansion of his actual biomass.
As he left the store, Lohan became even more vigilant, making sure no one had noticed his extravagant $2,000 purchase and was tempted to make a joke of it.
On the way back, Lohan felt a pang of gratitude toward Lisa. He had tried to refuse that extra money, insisting on the 1:1 ratio, but she was stubborn and simply transferred three times as much to him.
And considering today’s $2,000 expense, if it weren’t for her generosity, he’d be financially broke by now.
Arriving home, Lohan locked the door and opened the first packet of Grau Platina, eager to taste this "delicacy."
If he had already felt full of energy and his body had undergone major changes after consuming the Grade A nutritional supplement, now that he had bought this one, which was several times more expensive, he was very excited to see just how much more effective it would be for him.