"Bang!"
The supermarket's glass doors were violently pushed open, and Allen and Saitama stood panting at the entrance.
"Did… did we make it?" Saitama asked, his face full of bewilderment.
The cashier looked down at her watch: "Still half an hour until closing. You're just in time."
The two exchanged a look and immediately rushed to the fresh food section. On the empty shelves, only the last two boxes of discounted beef remained.
"How lucky! There are still two boxes of beef left today!" Saitama and Allen simultaneously reached out, each grabbing a box of beef.
"Allen-kun, do you want to have hotpot together tonight?" Saitama asked, his eyes sparkling.
"Sure, it's a good chance to try out the new induction cooker," Allen said with a smile, nodding.
Genos stood to the side, a glimmer of confusion in his mechanical eyes: "Teacher, Senior, aren't you going to discuss what happened at the House of Evolution today?"
"Ah, that," Saitama scratched his bald head.
"Weren't they already dealt with?"
Genos hesitated, then said, "Aren't we going to do a post-battle debrief? Like, where I made mistakes or anything…"
Allen put the beef into the shopping basket, walked over, and patted Genos on the shoulder: "Genos, you did very well."
His voice was gentle: "Daring to step forward in the face of a powerful enemy, that is the true nature of a hero."
A flicker of emotion passed through Genos's mechanical eyes: "Senior…"
"However, there is one thing that needs attention," Allen picked up a bag of cabbage and put it into the shopping cart.
"Don't go all out rashly before confirming the enemy's strength."
Genos immediately pulled out his small notebook to record: "I understand! Senior! I need to probe first, right!"
Allen looked at Genos's serious expression and couldn't help but laugh: "Yes, just like in a game, you need to first figure out the boss's attack patterns."
"But if you encounter an unbeatable enemy, don't push yourself. Just call Saitama-kun and me," Allen instructed Genos.
"Yes!" Genos nodded seriously.
After returning home, the three sat around the induction cooker. The aroma of hotpot filled the entire room.
"Genos (chew chew chew), come with me to the Hero Association tomorrow. I'll take you to register for your hero rank," Allen picked up a slice of beef and put it into his mouth.
"Okay! Senior! Is it because becoming a professional hero will instill a sense of responsibility that drives me to become stronger!" Genos put down his chopsticks and asked seriously.
Allen put a few slices of cabbage into the pot: "No, it's because when you become a hero, you get a salary and can buy more grilled meat."
Genos's mechanical eyes flickered a few times. Why do Senior and Teacher always think about food!
But in the end, he still nodded solemnly: "Understood, Senior, I will work hard to earn money to buy grilled meat."
"However, isn't Senior supposed to go study with Senior Bang tomorrow?" Genos kindly reminded him.
"Ah… about that, I'll take another day off tomorrow," Allen scratched his head, a guilty smile appearing on his face.
Saitama remained silent, simply picking up slices of beef and stuffing them into his mouth, his cheeks puffed out like a hamster.
"Ah~ discounted beef really tastes the best!"
Allen watched the two gobbling down their food, smiling as he added more vegetables to the pot: "Eat slowly, there's still plenty."
…"I'm leaving now, Saitama-kun, Genos." Allen stood at the entrance, waving to Saitama and Genos inside. He couldn't wait to go home and check out Asura Mode and the system's new functions.
Allen returned to his rented room and eagerly opened the system panel.
He clicked the button to confirm the evolution of Asura Mode.
[Asura Mode evolving, current progress 10% (cannot proceed with the next evolution until the host has fully completed the current evolution)]
In an instant, a scorching energy erupted from within him. Allen felt all the blood in his body boiling. Dark red patterns appeared on the surface of his skin, spreading like burning flames.
"Ugh ah—!"
The intense pain made him fall to his knees, sweat instantly soaking his clothes. But at the same time, he could clearly feel power surging within him, every inch of his muscles undergoing astonishing transformation.
He struggled to lift his head and saw that his eyes in the mirror had completely turned blood red, and eerie dark red patterns had appeared on his skin.
The most terrifying thing was that he felt an uncontrollable urge to kill eroding his rationality.
"No! I must stay conscious!" Allen bit his tongue, the taste of rust spreading in his mouth. The pain barely kept him conscious.
He tried to activate his Psychokinesis and found that the originally green Psychokinesis had now turned dark red, flowing around him like viscous blood.
He stumbled towards the bathroom, turned on the cold water tap, and poured it over his head. The icy water made him recover some clarity.
Allen knelt in the bathtub, letting the cold water wash over him. He could feel the evolution continuing, his muscles abnormally bulging, and his bones constantly making "crackling" sounds.
Just then, a knock suddenly came from outside the rented room.
"Allen-kun, remember to bring back some eggs when you go out tomorrow, we're out."
Allen endured the intense pain, squeezing out a response from between his teeth: "Okay!"
Saitama's voice was like a shot of adrenaline, instantly making him much clearer.
While Allen was helping Saitama regain his human emotions, he also, in turn, regarded his friends as anchors to maintain his own humanity.
What Allen yearned to become was the ultimate being, but he absolutely did not want to lose all human emotions after becoming the ultimate being, becoming an empty god.
As time slowly passed, Allen let out a long breath, noticing that the abnormalities on his body began to slowly recede. His blood-red eyes gradually returned to normal, and the patterns on his skin also faded.
He staggered out of the bathtub and walked to the mirror, looking at his disheveled self.
Although the evolution process was incredibly painful, he could clearly feel the violent power surging within him.
Just ten percent progress was enough to allow Allen to enter Dragon-Level! And he wasn't a flawed Dragon-Level like Asura Kabuto, whose offense and defense couldn't be combined. The current him was perfect, combining offense and defense!
"I lack nothing now!" Allen shouted excitedly.
If Allen were to fight Asura Kabuto again now, he wouldn't even need Psychokinesis; he could crush and blow him away with just his physical body!
Allen didn't stop there. He clicked on the system panel to check the newly opened shop function.
After a short while, he understood this newly opened function. In short, as long as Allen had defeated an opponent, even if the evolution conditions were not met, he could directly exchange for any of their abilities using transmigration points.
And he could skip the evolution process, directly completing the evolution!
Allen was thrilled after seeing the new function. He knew that all his transmigration points weren't saved for nothing!
He clicked on Asura Kabuto's avatar and then on the Steel Armor ability to view it.
[Ability: Steel Armor (800 transmigration points)]
[Evolution Condition: Endure Asura's full power attack for ten minutes]
[Physical stats will receive a massive boost! Especially defense, which will receive a leapfrog increase! After evolution, the host's entire body will be covered in biological armor, which can be hidden at will, but the defense provided by Steel Armor will be directly reduced by 70%]
Allen checked his transmigration points. After he took down Asura Kabuto, they went from 714 to 1084. Even if Allen exchanged for Steel Armor, he would still have two opportunities to transmigrate to a one-star world.
"This is it." Allen clicked to exchange without hesitation. For abilities that could directly boost combat power, he wouldn't hesitate. At this stage, he should madly increase his combat power.
Otherwise, how could he establish himself in a world like One-Punch Man, where Dragon-Level threats are common and Tiger-Level threats are less than dogs!
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