I Loaded the Occult Panel

As he pushed open the front door, the smell of stew drifted from the kitchen.

”You’re back?” his mother called from the kitchen.

”Yeah.”

He took off his coat, hung it on the hook by the door, and took the stairs two at a time.

He closed his bedroom door and slid the latch into place.

Walking over to his desk, he opened the drawer and pulled back the innermost hidden compartment.

The copper coin was wrapped in a small piece of linen, nestled in the deepest corner of the compartment.

The censer sat in the second drawer, resting on an old handkerchief.

He took out the copper coin first and unwrapped the linen.

Very little ether remained after his last absorption, and the coin now looked no different from an ordinary old copper piece.He rested the coin in his palm and sank his consciousness into the Panel.

The number jumped.

0.94... 0.96. It stopped moving after that.

There was truly only a single drop of ether left in the coin.

He kept holding it, waiting another dozen seconds.

0.97. Another jump, much slower this time, and then complete silence.

The coin was squeezed dry. He placed it on the desk.

Stripped of its ether deposits, it looked absolutely identical to a piece of scrap copper.

Its surface luster had completely faded. If thrown into a pile of discarded copper coins, no one would ever be able to tell what it had once carried.

Next was the censer.

He pulled open the drawer and took out the small censer.

It was slightly larger than the coin, just big enough to rest in his palm.

The moment his palm pressed against it, the Panel reacted.

0.98. A little faster than the coin.

0.99, 1.00. He let out a breath of relief and kept waiting.

When it reached 1.03, the censer also ran empty.

He loosened his fingers.

Available points: 1.03. It was enough.

Richard placed the empty censer back into the drawer.

Just like the coin, after losing its ether, the censer had become a thoroughly ordinary old artifact.

He didn’t touch the Sphinx Oil Lamp.

His 1.03 points had already crossed the one-point threshold. There was no need to drain the lingering ether inside the lamp right now; he might as well save it.

That lamp still held value for research.

Richard sat down at his desk, sinking his entire attention into the Panel.

[Breathing Lv.2] Progress: 93.02%

The point was ready.

The progress bar only had a short stretch left to go.

However, whether this single point would be invested in advancing [Breathing] was still undecided. The other option was to unlock [Perception].

Whether he saved it to advance [Breathing] when the progress bar filled, or used it to unlock [Perception], would depend on Sunday’s Inspiration test.

If his Inspiration was high enough, he would save the point. If not, he would unlock the skill and try to pass the test that way.

From [Breathing] to [Learning], and then [Eating] and [Sleep], reaching Lv.2 in any of these skills yielded no special notifications.

The true watershed was at Lv.3.

[Healing] from Breathing Lv.3 and [Erudition] from Learning Lv.3 were both excellent traits, and their prerequisites were far from simple.

So for those three attributes—eating, sleep, and walking—what would Lv.3 look like?

His gaze fell on the available points column.

Previewing advancement conditions didn’t consume points; it was just for viewing.

It was a function he had used repeatedly over the past few months.

He locked his consciousness onto [Eating] first and pushed in.

The Panel popped up the condition preview.

”This item is active. To advance again, the following must be met:

Reach Eating Lv.2 at 100% progress; Available Points: 1; Personally and actively ingest a clearly toxic substance and have the body completely metabolize it.”

A line of smaller text was attached below:

”Unlockable Effect Preview — eating; Filtration:

The body gains significant resistance to toxins, putrefaction, and parasitic pathogens.”

The unlocking condition was much milder than he had imagined.

Slightly moldy bread, mildly poisonous wild mushrooms, meat a few days past expiration, certain undercooked beans... he could scrape together several safe-level ”poisons” right in the home kitchen.

He wouldn’t even need to make a special trip to the pharmacy or the outskirts of the city.

Once the trait was unlocked, if anyone tried to use dirty tricks against him in the future, he would at least have an extra layer of buffer.

Moreover, he figured that since level three granted a trait, level five might grant an advanced one.

What would an advanced [Filtration] look like?

Converting poisons and harmful substances into his own nutrition, or perhaps even acquiring the properties of the ingested matter?

Reining in his thoughts, he closed the preview for [Eating] and clicked open [Sleep].

”This item is active. To advance again, the following must be met:

Reach Lv.2 at 100% progress; Available Points: 1; Personally complete one full deep sleep in an unfamiliar and hostile environment.”

”Unlockable Effect Preview — sleep; Wild Sleep:

Can rapidly fall asleep in any environment and complete high-quality restoration; light sleep retains danger perception.”

He couldn’t satisfy this condition for the time being.

His home in Slag Alley, the classrooms at Greenwood, the guest room at the Ashford estate—every place he could go was safe and comfortable.

He had even figured out the exact hour the stray cat at his door yowled every day; there was no way it counted as ”unfamiliar and hostile.”

He would have to at least leave his known safety zone.

Finally, there was [Walking].

”This item is active. To advance again, the following must be met:

Reach Lv.2 at 100% progress; Available Points: 1; Personally complete a multi-day long-distance trek passing through treacherous terrain (mountains, swamps, snowfields, deep forests, scree slopes, etc.) without using any vehicles for the entire journey.”

”Unlockable Effect Preview — walking; Tireless:

Fatigue accumulation rate in muscles, joints, and cardiopulmonary systems is significantly reduced; movement efficiency on complex terrain approaches that of flat ground.”

Richard leaned back in his chair and stared at it a while longer.

[Walking] was the latest of the three to be unlocked, and he was still quite a ways from Lv.2.

His daily commute to and from school, plus the bit of running he did around Slag Alley, was just enough to maintain basic accumulation.

But the unlock condition itself was trickier than [Sleep].

There were no mountains around Briston. The nearest highlands and hills were in the outer counties, a train ride that took almost half a day just one way.

The winter snow made the ”snowfield” option readily available, but he obviously couldn’t just run out into the wild alone to trek through the snow for two days.

If his winter break internship involved fieldwork, the northern mountain regions, and long-distance travel...

Then the unlock conditions for both [Wild Sleep] and [Tireless] could theoretically be satisfied together.

Two puzzle pieces, gathered in one go.

He closed the preview for [Walking] as well.

Richard took out a notebook on Ancient Greek from another drawer.

Chewing through a little bit every day added up. If he wanted to be a Scholar, mastering multiple ancient languages was a basic requirement.

The clatter of dishes came from downstairs; his mother was calling him for dinner.

”Richard! Come down and eat!”

”Coming!”

He closed the notebook, locked it in the drawer, and headed down the stairs with brisk steps.

Actually, that piece of salted ox tongue his mother had warned ”needs to be thrown out if we don’t eat it now” was a good candidate.

But fulfilling the basic condition for unlocking [Eating] wasn’t urgent. He would wait until he had enough points.

Otherwise, if he gave himself a bad stomach now, he would be sluggish for at least a day or two, which would interfere too much with his daily studies and training.

...

Briston saw its heaviest rainfall since the start of winter.

The torrential winter rain pelted against the windowpanes with a sharp crackle, while the iron drainpipes under the eaves wailed as the wind whipped through them.

Richard lay dazed in bed for a moment, suddenly feeling a bit hungry.

His stomach was twisting, as if a hand inside his gut was violently tugging outward.

He threw off the covers, sat up, and rubbed his belly.

The numbers on the Panel hung quietly at the edge of his vision:

[Eating Lv.1] Progress: 100%

Wait.

He locked his eyes on that line of text.

When he had checked the Panel one last time before sleeping yesterday, the progress was still at 99%.

After just one night of sleep, the last percentage point had filled itself in.

Right before bed last night, he had eaten the two almond pastries Grey gave him. It was probably those two pastries that pushed the progress bar over the finish line.

Just like when Breathing leveled up, advancing from Lv.1 to Lv.2 was a free upgrade that didn’t consume any points.

[Eating Lv.2] Progress: 0%

The changes cascaded over him within seconds.

The churning hunger in his stomach didn’t fade; instead, it became even sharper.

In the past, his hunger had been vague and generalized—his entire abdomen just screaming, ”Give me food.”

Now, the hunger was precise. His stomach was telling him exactly what he lacked, how much he lacked, and which category to prioritize.

Proteins, fats, carbohydrates, minerals.

The four needs were split into four independent signals, queuing up to report to his consciousness.

Protein came first; its signal was the strongest.

He had been building muscle recently. The passive reinforcement from Breathing and walking meant his body was constantly burning through building materials every day.

Warren’s lunches and Grey’s breakfasts had provided far more protein intake than ever before, but his body’s demands were growing even faster.

Supply had been constantly chasing demand, but had never quite caught up.

Fat came second.

It was winter, so surface heat loss had intensified, yet his subcutaneous fat reserves were practically zero.

This body was so thin he could feel his ribs, and fighting off the cold relied entirely on clothes and fireplaces.

Carbohydrates and minerals trailed behind. Their signals were weaker, falling into the category of ”eat it if it’s there, but no rush if it’s not.”

Richard sat on the edge of the bed, digesting these changes.

The Lv.2 eating skill had essentially installed a nutrition management system into him.

He could now actively regulate two things.

First, absorption efficiency.

For every bite of food he swallowed, his digestive tract would squeeze out every last drop of usable nutrients, dropping the waste rate to the absolute minimum.

With the exact same piece of bread, an ordinary person’s digestion and absorption rate was very low; most of it would be excreted along with the waste.

But his absorption efficiency was vastly higher than a normal person’s.

In situations where food was limited, he could obtain the same amount of nutrition from a smaller intake.

Second, storage mode.

If food was plentiful, he could ingest an amount far exceeding the normal limit in a single meal.

His body would temporarily store the excess nutrients, slowly releasing, digesting, and distributing them over the next few hours or even a day or two.

These two abilities were mirrors of each other.

One side was cutting expenditure—eating less but getting every bit out of it. The other side was broadening the source—eating more and successfully storing it.

Richard dressed and went downstairs to find Evelyn already sitting at the dining table.

”Why were you so slow coming down today?” she asked, her voice muffled around the crust of her bread.

”I slept in a bit.”

His mother brought his portion of fried eggs and bread from the kitchen and set them on the table.

Richard sat down, picked up his knife and fork, and cut the egg open.

The yolk hadn’t fully set yet, and it pooled slightly toward the edge of the plate.

He mopped up all the yolk with his bread and ate it, then ate two more slices of bread.

After finishing, the food he’d tossed into his stomach felt like pebbles dropped down a well—nowhere close to hitting the bottom.

”Mom, is there any more bread?”

The clatter of dishes came from the kitchen. ”Yes, two slices left.”

”I’ll take them both.”

Evelyn’s mouth stopped chewing.

She turned her head to look at her brother, her gray eyes practically screaming, ’I knew it.’

”Your appetite has been getting bigger and bigger lately.”

Her tone turned a little cross.

”At this rate, you’ll probably eat through our family’s entire monthly bread ration by the middle of the month.”

”It’s not that bad.” Richard took the bread their mother handed over and stuffed a huge bite into his mouth.

”Plus, Warren treats you to lunch at school, and you still eat dinner normally when you get back.”

She traced lines on the tabletop with breadcrumbs as she spoke.

”The amount you eat in a day is already more than Dad.”

If Evelyn knew Eastern proverbs, she probably would have followed up with: ’A growing teen eats his parents clean.’

Richard also knew that his appetite had been steadily increasing lately.

The reason was simple. The passive reinforcement from Breathing and walking meant his body was constantly rebuilding muscle and bone density, requiring more and more fuel.

It was fine at school with Warren and Grey covering for him, but at home, the grocery budget was carefully calculated.

Every extra bite he took meant one less for everyone else, forcing his mother to spend a few more pennies on groceries and bread.

”Don’t worry.” He took a sip of tea and swallowed the last bite of bread.

”I can control it from now on.”

”Control what? Your appetite?” Evelyn looked entirely skeptical.

But his younger sister was just nagging; she didn’t actually mind the bread.

How much did bread cost anyway? Even if he ate until he burst, it wouldn’t cost more than a few shillings.

After complaining, she got up to clear the dishes. Pausing at the kitchen door, she looked back and added a reminder:

”From now on, you can eat more bread at home and eat more meat at school. Warren is rich anyway.”