The night breeze brushed past the windowsill.
It carried a faint chill that was oddly refreshing.
From next door came the playful sounds of Jonathan talking with his girlfriend, while from the bathroom in the hallway came the repeated flushing noises of his older brother making his usual frequent nighttime trips.
"These kinds of background noises are way more comforting."
Ian shook his aching head. This time, waking up from the nightmare world had not made him cry out all that loudly.
"Homelander, oh Homelander... laser eyes, oh laser eyes."
Even though he had already returned to the real world, Ian's thoughts were still stuck on the corpse of that "discount Superman."
Young people did not care whether something was a cheap imitation or not. As long as it could shoot red beams from its eyes, shrug off bullets, and fly through the sky, Ian would gladly spend the rest of his adult life moving into a mansion, marrying a gorgeous woman, and living shamelessly off someone else's money.
"Next time, I'll definitely be prepared. And I'll shout 'for the family' even louder."
Ian silently resolved to practice tree climbing properly.
To be fair, he still could not quite understand why Homelander had shown up in the Marvel Universe. The whole thing felt like a badly mismatched puzzle, absurd and out of place, like some bizarre farce.
But precisely because he had witnessed something that ridiculous, it made Ian start thinking about another question.
"If Homelander can show up in the Marvel Universe, does that mean my psychiatrist really might be that Hannibal too...?"
Ian felt that question might be terrifying if he thought about it too hard.
He could not let himself dwell on it. The more he thought, the worse his anxiety would probably get. Rubbing his temples, Ian tried to force the creepy speculation out of his head.
"System."
He shifted his focus and opened his personal status panel. It still had the same crude design as before, but now it contained a brand-new selectable tab.
"Finally! I'm about to stop being human too!"
A surge of inexplicable excitement welled up in Ian's chest. He eagerly opened the class selection feature. There was only one lonely option in it now.
[Berserker]
[Class System Unlocked]
[Currently Available Classes: 1]
[Berserker Description: Use rage as fuel and ferocity as your blade. Tear apart all obstacles!]
The overwhelmingly cool description made Ian's heart pound. After a brief hesitation, he decided to select [Berserker] first and bind himself to the class.
After all, even if Homelander could unlock another class later, who could resist becoming extraordinary right now?
He knew very well that his system could grant him more than one class.
He had already confirmed that through previous testing. The only issue with obtaining a second class was that there would be some prerequisite conditions. Ian did not think that would be too much trouble.
"Berserker Ian is ready and waiting!"
The moment Ian confirmed his choice, lines of text appeared before him.
[Class Advancement Requirement: Reach the critical threshold of Rage Value (Current Rage Value: 5/100)]
At the same time, a semi-transparent little bar appeared in the lower right of Ian's vision, like a status bar in a game. It was labeled [Rage Value].
A striking red line stood somewhere below the top of the bar.
Clearly, that was the "critical threshold" he needed to cross.
He needed to reach at least sixty points of Rage Value.
"So I really am just playing Earth Online, huh."
Ian could not help sighing at the thought. With a mental command, the Rage Value display in the lower right could indeed be hidden.
Actually, increasing rage was not all that difficult.
Ian closed his eyes and forced himself to recall the car accident from his previous life, the one that had taken his life.
The speeding red apocalypse chariot, the sleepy face of the driver, the brakes that had never once sounded...
All of it rose clearly in his mind.
Anger began to stir inside him.
In a fit of rage...
Ian got a little angry.
[Current Rage Value: 13/100]
That was already Ian doing his absolute best to summon his emotions. There was no helping it. Too much time had passed. The anger that should have existed had already been worn down by the years.
"Tch. Too long ago. I can't stay mad about it anymore."
Ian rubbed an ear that had not even turned red and sighed helplessly. Then he decided to change strategies.
Physical stimulation.
Smack!
Ian slapped himself across the face.
Was he angry?
[Current Rage Value: 11/100]
Apparently, not only had it failed to make him angry...
There was even a faint sense of satisfaction.
"Hell!"
Ian did not dare continue. He was afraid he might awaken some strange new trait. After thinking it over, he left his room and went straight into the kitchen, rummaging through everything.
Chili pepper?
Take a bite.
Wasabi?
Shovel some in.
The spicy burn shot straight through Ian's skull. Tears and snot began making direct contact with each other.
[Current Rage Value: 21/100]
"Not enough. Nowhere near enough..."
Panting, Ian swept his gaze across the refrigerator. Then a flash of inspiration struck. His astonishing 2.3 Intelligence kicked into action.
All right, to be honest, the Intelligence stat on his panel did not actually represent real wisdom. It mainly reflected mental activity, learning ability, and logical reasoning strength. But that did not stop Ian from believing he possessed world-shaking genius.
Ten minutes later, a horrifying sludge was churning inside his blender.
Chicken breast, chili peppers, wasabi, bitter melon, and several handfuls of rotten leafy vegetables that had probably been sitting around for days.
A drink so vile it deserved to be called the worst thing ever created was now complete.
Ian did not drink it immediately. Instead, he went back to his room, turned on the computer, and launched a game called Legends Rift.
He knew Jordan's account and password by heart. Before long, he had logged in and started playing.
Just as expected.
First match, an AFK teammate.
Second match, the ADC flashed forward and fed.
Third match, the jungler sleepwalked through the entire game.
Fourth match, the mid laner turned on voice chat just to flame people.
Fifth match... every lane collapsed, Ian ended with a perfect 0/31 record, fully blending in with his teammates, and his blood pressure finally shot through the roof. As he chugged down his carefully crafted drink, he glanced at his [Rage Value].
[Current Rage Value: 56/100]
Good. Good. Good!
This really was the level of someone on the verge of losing their mind!
But it still was not enough!
To stop his emotions from calming down and letting his [Rage Value] drop, Ian quickly opened his browser and searched for videos of vegetarians trying to force other people to go vegetarian too.
[Current Rage Value: 57/100]
His rage rose again.
But it still was not enough!
So he kept watching videos.
Animal protection campaign videos, and videos of people smashing, looting, setting fires, forcing others to donate, even pressuring them to move, all in the name of protecting animals.
"Hiss!"
This was seriously infuriating.
[Current Rage Value: 59/100]
Ian's face had already turned red with anger, but he was still missing that final tiny bit.
And right then.
[Why are you always watching this useless crap? Young people should be looking at spicy pics and boobs!]
A floating comment flashed across the screen, and suddenly an extra folder appeared on Ian's computer without his control.
It was that hacker who had been living in his computer for years, causing trouble again.
Ian clicked the folder open.
Sure enough.
[You little pervert thought you were getting spicy pics? Dream on.]
There was only that one line inside.
[Current Rage Value: 64/100]
Ian instantly exploded in fury.
And with that surge of emotion, a new system notification rang out in his ears. At the same time, his body began undergoing a strengthening transformation.
[Ding!]
[Class Advancement Successful!]
[Class Acquired: Berserker!]
[Base Template Loaded!]
[Talent Skill Acquired: Reverse Blood Furnace]
[Berserker Class Skill Tree Unlocked!]
(End of Chapter)
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