Bodily Transformation
It was night and dark out, but it wasn't too late in the night. This meant that there were still several people in the restaurant as customers, eating dinner or having business parties. But everybody's attention at that moment was attracted to the same sight.
It was the sight of a vigorous and healthy-looking young man devouring the food on his table.
By devour, it was meant in the most literal sense of the word. Any easily eaten foods such as tofu fried rice, stir-fried vegetables, soups, and salads, were essentially shoveled into the young man's mouth.
Anything larger and heavier, like pizza, steak, salmon, and drumsticks were torn into before stripped of anything worth nutrition. They were barely even chewed on before they were swallowed, and the eating kept going.
It was like watching a trash compactor at work.
At the side of the table stood a dignified old butler who continuously replenished the foods that left the man's plate. He quickly and steadily cut up the pizza and steak into edible chunks before presenting them to the man.
Astonishingly, his face's expression remained unmoving throughout the entire process. As if he wasn't disturbed by what was happening.
Two deformed utensils sat a the side of the plate, and the man was eating with his bare hands. The sight was extremely unsightly and messy, but there was a certain aspect to it that didn't allow observers to look away. Perhaps morbid fascination?
Randolph felt, for the first time in his life, that his appetite was insatiable.
The thought ran through his head as he ate. Even as the many different foods were stuffed into his mouth, his body still demanded more. He had felt hungry before, but not to this extent. It was extremely disturbing.
As the foods vanished into his mouth, he could feel his body quickly breaking them down. They were likely being broken down into nutrients and sent to the important functions of his body, such as his muscles and arteries.
He felt it because it was probably the reason he couldn't feel full despite having eaten enough for half a dozen grown men. It was as if his every individual cell in his body had been injected with energy – and they were working overtime.
This hunger had started the moment Randolph had begun eating, and it basically confirmed his second unanswered question.
He had never felt such intense hunger before, and logically, it spoke of need.
Could such a massive strength just appear in his body without any prior warning?
With the existence of the system, Randolph could definitely believe it. But could his human body sustain the change?
The strength conversion was strange and magical. While the conversion was undoubtedly beneficial to him, it was also clearly dangerous. This fact was made extremely apparent to Randolph when he looked at the bulging veins in his body. It was combined with the fact that his body constantly felt tight, as if it would explode if given too much stress.
To Randolph, his body demanding nutrition could only mean one thing. It needed the sustenance to facilitate the change that his body was going through.
"Mmf, hrmg, ghrhmmg!" The young man rather ungracefully mumbled a few words while half-way done with a chicken thigh.
"There is not enough to drink?" Archibald leaned forward slightly. "I understand, my Lord. My apologies for being unprepared. What would you like to drink?"
"Mmmfrghg."
"Water it is, then. I shall be back soon."
Randolph chewed slowly as he watched the old man wheel the trolley away to the kitchen.
Raising his hand, he swiped at the air in front of him.
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{Randolph Ivy}
Strength (STR) – 22
Dexterity (DEX) – 12
Constitution (CON) – 13
Intelligence (INT) – 18
Wisdom (WIS) – 20
Charisma (CHA) – 18
[Abilities]
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If 17 – the STR stat I had before conversion – was considered higher than the average man, then I can probably consider 13 or 14 to be the average for strength.
Arnold had exercised for years before he had traded with Randolph, and though he had taken steroids, the effort was still genuine.
This meant that several years of muscle, at the very least, had been extracted from Arnold's body and transferred to Randolph. That combined with his previous 17 probably made for an astronomical sum.
As mentioned before, the number was already low in the first place. This meant that every single point was a substantial increase – which means that it's worth more the higher it was. It was like levels in a video game. The higher it was the harder it was to level up.
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-Randolph Ivy's Trading System-
Ø [Randolph Ivy]
- [Capital]
- [Contracts]
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Swiping further, he went back to the home screen before he firmly clicked on the [Contracts] section of the system.
As he surveyed the system, he continuously polished off the other foods on the table with his free hand.
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{Contracts}
- Arnold Armstrong [Active]
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The previous empty list, that had remained empty since John's death, now had one new addition on it.
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{Arnold Armstrong}
Strength (STR) – 13
Dexterity (DEX) – 13
Constitution (CON) – 16
Intelligence (INT) – 11
Wisdom (WIS) – 10
Charisma (CHA) – 10
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This window was born from the excuse that Randolph had made to Arnold about the company testing. It displayed all of his stats for Randolph to see at his leisure.
Interestingly to note, the [Contracts] section only displayed the signee's name and not the terms of their contract. Randolph could only find one place to where the terms were stored, and it was in the small sheet of paper that he always carried around with him. This clearly spoke of its importance.
The name in the screen only display Arnold's current stats, to what the man himself had agreed upon.
When comparing it to his own, the young man frowned.
Arnold's stats seemed incredibly low. The only thing the man beat him out on were in bodily stats, which Randolph had come here to see.
If Arnold's STR is 13 now, then that means it was 20 with the 7 I had taken from him before.
While it seemed close to Randolph's though, he knew that it wasn't the case.
If the system really converted the strength to an ideal form for his body, then his strength would undoubtedly be much further beyond Arnold's. This wasn't to mention that his strength was even higher now, even with the ideal strength added.
But this wasn't Randolph's main focus. It was the two other stats that sat just below them.