"Looks like I'll keep investing points after all… Physical stats it is!"
Ian summoned his System Chest panel.
[Strength: ★★☆]
[Speed: ★★☆]
[Endurance: ★★★]
A three-star Silver Chest.
It could push either Strength or Speed up to three stars—
or it could be used to break the ceiling of his Endurance stat.
Ian thought for a moment.
Then slammed the Silver Chest straight into [Endurance].
Under his gaze, the stars behind that attribute rippled—
and shifted into:
[Endurance: ★★★☆]
From a solid three stars to three and a half.
"One more Silver Chest and I can push [Endurance] to four stars!"
Ian clenched his fist, a thought flashing through his mind:
"I need more blue gorillas."
And right then—
A tidal wave of hunger crashed over him.
It felt like every cell in his body was screaming one message:
Food.
FOOD.
FOOOOOOOOOD.
Ian shot to his feet, eyes glowing green.
He tore through the room searching for food.
But of course—he'd just moved in. He didn't even have a snack, let alone a stash.
Unable to bear the gnawing hunger, he sprinted out the door, followed the route from earlier, and charged straight back to Impel Down's staff cafeteria.
The welcome banquet had ended abruptly, so a lot of food still remained.
Ian immediately grabbed a platter of roasted meat.
Then a second plate.
Then a third.
Then a fourth…
After a storm-like feast—
Ian let out a long, satisfied belch.
Only then did he realize—
He had eaten several times more than usual.
"So this is the effect of raising Endurance? Or physical stats in general?"
Ian rubbed his stuffed, round belly.
"Turning me into a bottomless pit first…?"
The Next Day
His suspicion was confirmed.
Because he went and found a Blugori, beat it up, and farmed another Silver Chest.
Then he threw the chest into [Strength].
And the familiar, terrifying hunger hit again.
Ian barreled into the cafeteria like a starving sea king, devouring everything in sight.
Whenever his Physical stats increased, the body became stronger immediately—
but afterward, it demanded massive fuel to fill the "growth gap."
Like a pseudo-scientific, fantasy-style metabolism upgrade.
The System Chest only raised his upper limit.
He still had to train to reach the full potential.
A week passed in a blur.
Ian's life in Impel Down had become perfectly, beautifully structured:
Add points. Eat. Sleep. Beat up blue gorillas.
A positive, self-sustaining cycle.
Fueled by the Blugori's blood, sweat, and tears (mostly tears),
Ian harvested a mountain of Silver Chests.
With them—
He pushed his Physical stats up to ★★★★.
And even boosted his Clay-Clay Fruit all the way to four stars!
To say he could beat ten copies of himself from a week ago—
wasn't an exaggeration.
It was modest.
Today—
Ian was just about to call out the Blugori squad for his daily training session.
But after knocking one out, something strange appeared:
Its System Chest was lower quality.
[Bronze Chest: Blugori]
[Chest Rating: ★★]
"Huh? It can degrade?"
He tested another Blugori.
Same result—two stars.
After syncing with the System Chest for clarification, Ian got his answer:
Repeatedly farming the same target in a short period would cause chest quality to drop.
Only then did Ian realize the issue.
He had beaten every single Blugori in the squad.
Some of them more than once.
Some of them… far more than once.
It was time to find new sources of System Chests.
He still had two Bronze Chests freshly obtained.
He checked his abilities, then invested them into Tekkai and Kami-e.
The stars rippled and changed:
[Tekkai: ★★★]
[Kami-e: ★★★]
To raise their true combat performance, he needed live combat experience.
Ian turned to look at the familiar blue gorilla squad.
But now—
They refused to meet his gaze at all.
One looked up at the ceiling.
One stared at the floor.
One picked at its fingers.
Another groomed its fur intensely.
They gave off the exact vibe of a classroom full of students praying the teacher wouldn't call on them.
Under Ian's stare—
One Blugori suddenly grabbed a double-bladed axe nearby.
Not to attack—
But to hold it up like a mirror.
If Blugori could talk, it would probably say:
"Damn… this axe sure looks axe."
No doubt.
The entire squad had been utterly dominated.
Even with Ian calling them over, they stood rooted to the ground like trees.
"…I thought someone told me Blugori weren't very smart?"
Ian rubbed his forehead.
Since the blue gorillas refused to be training dummies—
He would simply make a sparring partner of his own.
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