I'm a proper student; I only take nine kinds of potions every day.

The next few days passed peacefully and smoothly.

There was nothing unusual about Professor Byron, and Ivan didn't rush to approach him.

A chemist who researches anti-vampire potions is not necessarily a good person.

Capitalists tame vampires. Chemists research ways to control vampires.

He dared not gamble on whether these two lines were connected to an ambition for immortality or something else, something darker.

At school, thanks to his soaring memory, Evan's learning progress is frighteningly fast.

He only needs an hour to get home each day to fully digest all the content, knowledge points, and exercises from that day's lessons.

I can remember key page numbers and paragraph positions after flipping through the textbook once, and I can also accurately recall the extended content that the teacher casually mentions in class.

Strangely, Priss recently took a transformation potion but didn't do anything else, not even have his blood drawn, just described his symptoms.

He seemed to be waiting for something.

The more this happened, the stranger it seemed to Evan.

So after returning home, he didn't touch the remaining two bottles of Blood Burning Potion, only drinking a diluted Conversion Potion every day.

Since the Blood Burning Potion is specifically designed to deal with vampires, it might come in very handy.

As for whether Priss came that night, Evan knew.

Hill came for the last time three days ago.

He said he was being haunted by something dirty, which might be the work of Price; he won't be able to come anytime soon.

But her senior brother has already arrived and is now hiding in the shadows, so please don't worry, Evan.

Sure enough, when he woke up the next morning, he found a note with the smell of whiskey next to his bed.

"He came by, but I chased him away. Your dear senior brother, don't spend any time alone with him these next couple of days."

"Note from our own people: The two dollars you gave Hill smelled like urine."

Upon seeing the second item, Evan felt somewhat embarrassed.

Then it dawned on me that the hand that took the money that day seemed to have touched my rather damp crotch.

With help from others, Evan felt relieved and continued his personal growth.

Afterwards, as his fertility increased dramatically, testosterone was secreted in large quantities in his body, and Evan could visibly feel his muscles changing.

The weight and density of bones, as well as the fiber density of muscles, are increasing at a healthy but ferocious rate.

Every morning when he wakes up, he can see some small but real changes in the mirror.

His shoulders broadened by half an inch, his chest thickened by an inch, and his jawline became more defined.

"The first step from Greyhound to Astartes!"

Of course, the price is...

He can really eat a lot now.

A meal that used to cost 15 cents now costs 30 cents.

Two pieces of black bread, a large bowl of bean soup, two sausages, and a glass of milk—three hours after eating them, I started to feel empty again.

The daily food expenses alone amount to nearly one dollar.

Even if he went to the docks every day to carry sacks, the meager income couldn't keep up with the appetite of his new body.

You can earn eighty cents a day, but you have to spend ninety cents on food.

His savings were quietly slipping away like sand through an hourglass.

Friday arrived quickly.

When the school bell rang, Evan slung his backpack over his shoulder and walked towards the school gate with Ryan, John, and others.

In the hallway, students chatted in twos and threes about their weekend plans and the highly anticipated rugby match the day after tomorrow.

"Arkham?"

Ivan turned his head.

Erdin stood two steps behind him.

Today she was wearing a deep purple velvet overcoat with a snow-white rabbit fur trim at the collar.

Her long, black hair was pulled back with a pearl hair clip, revealing her slender neck.

Two other equally presentable girls stood behind her, but neither of them possessed the same aura as Eldin.

"What's the matter?"

Erdin spoke calmly and unhurriedly.

"The day after tomorrow is the rugby game between our school and Aletheia University. I've made plans with some classmates to go watch it together."

"We need a reliable male to help take care of us."

She slightly raised her chin.

"Are you interested in coming with me? I'll take care of the tickets and travel expenses."

Ryan and John behind him widened their eyes instantly.

The two of them looked down at their thin, bony arms at the same time, their eyes filled with resentment at their months of taking medication.

What a great opportunity.

What a dream invitation.

Then they heard Ivan speak slowly and deliberately.

"Sorry, I have to go to the docks to carry sacks this weekend, I don't have time."

He turned to leave.

Erdin's eye twitched.

This is the second time in a week that she has lost to the phrase "carrying sacks".

"you!"

Ryan and John pounced on Ivan's wrists from either side.

His face was filled with disappointment and frustration.

The two people's fingers gripped him tightly like crab claws, as if they wanted to force him to kowtow in front of Erdin.

Erdin took a deep breath and quickly adjusted his mindset.

Are you short of money?

Ivan nodded seriously.

"We're really short of food. We've been eating too much lately, and we're almost at our wits' end."

Erdin's eyes darted around.

"Okay then. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, three days in total. I'll give you a commission of three dollars per day."

Ryan and John, who were standing next to him, nearly popped their eyes out when they heard the number.

For them, going to a football match with such top-tier aristocratic beauties is already an immense honor.

There's even money to be made.

Three dollars a day.

Nine dollars for three days.

Nine dollars is equivalent to their earnings for a week of drug trials, or the equivalent of a dockworker working for more than ten days without food or drink.

The envy and jealousy in their hearts were about to burst out of their skulls.

They both turned and stared intently at Evan, their eyes conveying the same message: if this guy dares to say "I'm going to carry sacks" again, they'll pin him to the ground and beat him up right there.

Upon hearing the word "commission," Evan's attitude immediately underwent a complete 180-degree turn.

The casual "I'm busy, I don't have time" attitude from before completely disappeared, replaced by a fawning smile.

"Miss Hearst, you have a keen eye for people."

He raised his hand and pounded on his thick chest.

"Please rest assured, Miss, I will protect your safety with my life."

Erdin was speechless for a moment as he looked at Ivan's face that changed so quickly.

She muttered to herself.

"I can clearly smell the surge of male hormones on this guy, he doesn't look like he's impotent at all..."

Why is there no reaction to my appearance?

She suppressed her confusion and regained her usual composure.

"Be at Bolton South Station by 9:00 AM tomorrow."

"You don't need to prepare any clothes; I'll arrange a special uniform for you."

After saying that, she turned and left.

The hem of the deep purple coat drew an elegant arc on the wooden floor of the corridor.

As soon as Erdin's figure disappeared around the corner of the corridor, the people around Evan went wild.

"Arkham, you're fucking lucky!"

"Damn it, I'm so jealous!"

Evan smiled and patted Ryan and John on the shoulder.

"Try to take less medicine in the future. Good health is more important than anything else."

Amidst the envious and jealous gazes of the crowd, he quickened his pace, ran down the steps of the teaching building, and out of the school gate, only to see a tram just closing its doors and leaving.

Ivan could only stand on the roadside in frustration, waiting for the next bus.

Only Ryan, John, and a few poor students remained on the open space in front of the playground; they did not follow.

Ryan sighed.

"Stop looking. Arkham is no longer one of us."

He paused for a moment.

"Remember to volunteer at church tomorrow."

John rubbed the toes of his shoes on the ground a couple of times and muttered something.

"Why? They're both poor kids from the bottom of society, so why is he healthy and able to go to the ball game with Miss Hearst after taking the medicine?"

"But we're going to do volunteer work at church."

Upon hearing this, the others instinctively clenched their fists.

People are not worried about scarcity, but about inequality.

Maliciousness grows quietly in the cracks of jealousy and discontent.

……

Ivan rushed home.

It was completely dark when I got off the tram.

The night wind was already a bit chilly in mid-November, and the temperature had dropped to around 3 degrees Celsius.

As usual, the familiar alleyway on Guding Street was piled with garbage, and moldy vegetable leaves and damp, rotten newspapers were scattered on the cobblestone pavement.

He slowed down as soon as he entered the alley.

The stray cat has disappeared.

Every morning and evening, the skinny gray stray cat would appear punctually by the garbage heap, squatting there and using its paws to search for fish bones.

It's been going on like this for a week now.

But today, the alley was unusually quiet.

There was no meowing of cats. There was no rustling of mice.

Even the whistling sound of the wind passing through the clothesline seemed to have been swallowed up by something.

Something's not right.

At that very second.

A sharp pain exploded from deep within his abdomen.

It's as if someone had planned it all out for me.

The pain was no longer the dull, tolerable burning sensation it had been before.

It was a piercing pain that went straight to the bone marrow, like countless red-hot wires piercing through the nerves at the same time.

Ivan's legs buckled, his knees slamming directly onto the cold, wet pebbles, and his whole body began to convulse uncontrollably.

With trembling fingers, he pulled a bottle of copper pills from his jacket pocket, poured one out, and put it in his mouth.

Useless.

The analgesic effect of copper pills was as if it had been suppressed by an invisible hand in the face of this level of pain.

He could clearly feel countless invisible hands inside his body manipulating his blood vessels, internal organs, brain, and eyeballs.

Each fiber is being peeled off and rewoven.

"The potion needs to be completely digested!"

"Damn woman, if she hadn't wasted my time and let me catch that bus, I'd be home by now!"

Ivan gritted his teeth.

One hundred and sixty-eight hours is the digestion time for the Demon Hunter traits.

Now only thirty minutes remain.

That's why he's in such a hurry to go home today.

He knew this moment would come, and he didn't want it to happen in front of any strangers.