Chapter 79

Iron Eater: Second Stage

Available Metal Property Extraction Slots: 2

Extracted Properties: Mold Embryo (White)

Current Consumption Slot 1: Pig Iron (Consumption Progress 28.1/100%)

Current Consumption Slot 2: Nine Nether E Corpse Grievance Iron (Consumption Progress 6%/100%)

"The E Iron's consumption progress rises incredibly slowly; it's not that it's dead still like it died, it's just no different from a snail's pace."

Feng Mu thought with a stifled feeling:

"As expected, I knew it — how could E Iron's consumption progress possibly run faster than Pig Iron? One mouthful went down and it jumped 5%; that was all my illusion at the time."

Feng Mu now came back to his senses, realizing where the problem lay.

Pig Iron is like a bowl of thin porridge — although one bowl down increases consumption progress slowly, it digests fast; a few rounds of Body Forging Exercise and the stomach is empty again, ready for more porridge.

Each bowl isn't large, but you can drink a bowl whenever without issue.

E Iron, on the other hand, is a military compressed ration bar — one stick down and consumption progress surges a chunk, but it digests thief-slow; a whole night of Body Forging Exercise and the stomach is still full.

You think you only ate one meal, but actually this meal can last a month.

A full week, and E Iron's consumption progress only went from 5% to 6% — meaning this week the stomach's digested amount barely covered another 1% of E Iron.

If Feng Mu didn't consume E Iron and let the stomach digest all 5% of the reserve, it would take a full 5 weeks — isn't that exactly one meal keeping you full for a month?

And this is with Feng Mu getting up every day on schedule to draw his own blood for a buff bonus; otherwise, Feng Mu suspects E Iron's consumption progress really wouldn't budge an inch.

Because of this, even Pig Iron's consumption progress growth slowed down, because the stomach stayed half-full, compressing the amount of Pig Iron Feng Mu could consume each day.

He even had to eat more rice and dishes to neutralize the E Iron + Pig Iron inside his body, to prevent waking up mutated into an E Corpse.

Originally he thought it would take no more than ten days or half a month to extract E Iron's property; now calculating, it might take 100 months, over ten years?

The gap between expectation and reality is too great; Feng Mu simply cannot endure it.

He must think of a way — not to make E Iron catch up to Pig Iron's pace, but at least not fall so far behind he can't even see the shadow ahead.

Otherwise, gathering E Iron early has no practical value; Feng Mu would have to grit his teeth and swap E Iron out of the consumption slot.

He cannot let E Iron's stagnant growth infinitely drag down the overall advancement speed of 【Iron Eater】.

After practicing Body Forging Exercise a few more rounds, Feng Mu let out a long breath, put the half-piece of E Iron back into the iron box, and hid it under the loose tile beneath the TV cabinet.

Feng Mu inevitably felt some disappointment inside: "It's like in a game, picking up god-tier gear early on, but limited by character level you can only look, not use — makes you anxiously scratch your heart and lungs, wanting to open a trainer to cheat."

Unfortunately, reality has no one-click level-up trainer; Feng Mu can only grit his teeth and set himself a final deadline.

He thought: "Two weeks, at most two weeks — find a way to speed up E Iron, otherwise I'll have to grit my teeth and shelve it."

For solutions, Feng Mu planned to approach from the following angles.

1. Body Forging Exercise probably can't keep up with E Iron's intensity; need to switch to a different martial art.

2. Continue looking for methods from the E Corpse Organization — although their research direction most likely isn't what I want, undeniably they are probably the organization in this world that has researched E Iron the deepest; by analogy, maybe I can get some methods from them?

3. It's not a Body Forging Exercise intensity problem, but a compatibility problem.

After all, my current entire understanding of 【Consumption Progress】 comes from Pig Iron; I thought 【Body Forging Exercise】 could raise digestion speed because fatigue and pain consume food and energy — but is it possible my understanding is too shallow, and there's a deeper reason?

For instance, maybe 【Pig Iron】 and 【Body Forging Exercise】 just click — they're highly compatible with each other?

Like martial arts cultivation: besides Bone Quality values, there's a hidden compatibility.

That is, some people are just especially suited to cultivate a certain martial art — they feel that art was tailor-made for them, and the moves they execute are many times more formidable than what the manual describes.

Just like 【Mold Embryo】 is specially compatible with 【Crane Claw Technique】.

Following this line of thought, I need to find a martial art compatible with E Iron — but how to find it?

4. If all three above approaches are wrong, then it's just blind luck — a blind cat bumping into a dead mouse.

But in any case, Feng Mu only gives himself two weeks of trial-and-error time, leaving no room for fantasy; from this moment the countdown begins.

Feng Mu himself may not even realize his personality seems to have been reforged like his bones — the indecisiveness in his bones is gone, replaced by iron-like cold decisiveness.

In a sense, without comparing property strength, purely conceptually, Pig Iron's property might be the most suitable initial property for Feng Mu.

Mold Embryo, Mold Embryo — it molds bones, and also "Bone Quality".

Feng Mu stopped practicing Body Forging Exercise; since E Iron's progress was temporarily shelved, he wasn't in a rush to raise Pig Iron's consumption progress either, instead preparing to spend time on two new martial arts.

Mhm, precisely the two manuals Ma Bin offered up.

One Grade Two palm technique: "Heart Crushing Palm".

One Grade Three stance art: "Bull Demon Force".

The Grade Two palm technique's entry isn't hard; Feng Mu didn't waste time this week either, practicing hard at home every night, with good results.

He has now glimpsed the doorway — feels just one layer of window paper thick away from piercing through to entry.

He thought: "Tonight's the night."

Three hours later.

Feng Mu let out a cold laugh, feeling the fist and foot knowledge pouring into his mind — that thin layer of window paper instantly shattered under his fist, punched through.

【Basic Fist Technique (Middle Level) → Basic Fist Technique (High Level) → Basic Fist Technique (Perfection)】

【Basic Leg Technique (Middle Level) → Basic Leg Technique (High Level) → Basic Leg Technique (Perfection)】

【Remaining General Skill Proficiency: 22080】

His mind instantly gained 20 years of bitter Basic Fist and Foot training memories; every move, precisely because of its simplicity, instead revealed a clean sharpness between fists and feet, foundation forged incomparably solid.

Feng Mu's thought moved, and fists and feet arrived — movements crisp and direct, not worth mentioning for power, but possessing a natural, innate feel, as if he had cultivated Basic Fist and Foot into instinct.

Simultaneously, with these 20 years of fist and foot kung fu, even if Feng Mu's Bone Quality and comprehension were poor, his understanding of fist and foot is now much deeper.

At the very least, a mere Grade Two palm technique 【Heart Crushing Palm】 entry absolutely cannot stop him.

【Heart Crushing Palm · Elementary (1/300)】

"This is accumulation leading to breakthrough." Feng Mu felt deeply comforted, as if in this day-after-day tempering of fists and feet, he had understood the true essence of martial arts.

Behind every breakthrough at a pass lies one's own decades of monotonous accumulation, day after day.

Although those memories were instilled into the body in an instant, the feelings within the memories are real, that kind of prolonged boredom is also real, and most importantly, the consumed proficiency values are even more undeniably real.

Therefore, Feng Mu understood; there are no shortcuts in between, let alone cheating; everything is the most genuine effort and reward!

"Who can be like me, bitterly practicing martial arts day after day for decades, time and time again? I am truly too hardworking; I have redefined the limits of effort."

Feng Mu's eye sockets grew moist, moved by his own effort.

【You have an unimaginably solid foundation; in merely a single day, you have entered the door of the Heart Crushing Palm.】

【You cultivate the Heart Crushing Palm day and night without rest; three years later, your Heart Crushing Palm has achieved minor success.】

【Ten years pass without sleep or rest; your comprehension of the Heart Crushing Palm has reached another level, which can be called the Da Cheng Realm.】

【You are madly obsessed with the Heart Crushing Palm; in the thirtieth year, you have refined the Heart Crushing Palm to the point of perfection, reaching the Perfection Realm of this martial art in theory.】

Feng Mu glanced at the moving second hand on the wall clock, feeling a sense of detachment.

Although only a few short seconds had passed in reality, in truth, he had already bitterly cultivated for 30 years in a world without people; this soul that endured loneliness has no equal in the current world.

On the Skill Column, a brand new icon emerged: 【Heart Crushing Palm · Perfection】

【Current Remaining Remaining General Skill Proficiency: 17280】

Feng Mu closed the panel, not even having time to see that one line of small text, that fleeting Prompt Box.

【Your powerful mental fortitude shocks the System; Inheritance Degree has gained a slight increase.....】

Thank you Cielooo for the 1500 point donation~

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(End of Chapter)