When Evan returned to his dorm and opened the virtual interface, he was slightly taken aback by the friendship point counter.
It read one hundred. Yesterday it was only twenty, and before that, it had been zero. This meant that his interaction with Mei today had earned him a full eighty friendship points. Now, he could do another Friendship Supply pull.
As for the time, although he had spent more time with Mei today than yesterday, it wasn't that much longer. The amount of friendship points gained was probably not influenced by how he spent his time with her, at least not so simply. So, it likely had nothing to do with the sword practice. Was it because Mei's affection for him had increased significantly today?
Yesterday he was a stranger with questionable motives, but today they could be considered friends, perhaps even confidants. Mei had indeed sensed a part of Evan's heart—his desire to become stronger.
If he could continue to acquire friendship points at this rate daily, or even more, then Mei alone might allow him to pull from the Friendship Supply once a day. And in the future, as he interacted with more Valkyries and Valkyrie candidates, he might even be able to do a ten-pull every day. By then, however, the main purpose of the Friendship Supply would probably just be to provide him with gold. To truly increase his strength, he would need the advanced supplies that required crystals, which had yet to appear.
Pushing these thoughts aside, Evan focused his mind and performed a single Friendship Supply pull.
He wasn't going to save up his friendship points for a ten-pull. His last ten-pull had been all green items, proving there was no pity system. So, it was better to use the points as soon as he got them. Getting stronger sooner was always a good thing.
Three seconds later, seeing the blue glow of the virtual item before him, Evan fell into deep thought.
So the Friendship Supply can give two-star items directly? Then his previous ten-pull of all green items…
Could it be that I have terrible luck?
No, no, no. It must be that the Friendship Supply not only has no pity system, but the probability of getting a two-star item is also very low. The fact that his eleventh pull was a blue item just meant he got lucky!
What Evan pulled was not a base two-star Stigma, but just a two-star item called a "Holo Treasure," worth two thousand gold. If it had been a Stigma, Evan wouldn't be contemplating; he'd just be happy.
Watching the number in his gold counter jump to five thousand, Evan stopped dwelling on his gains and losses and closed the virtual interface.
His two-star Shigure Kira (T) needed ten thousand gold to be maxed out; he was still a long way off. Although he had pulled a two-star Holo Treasure, his actual strength hadn't increased.
No… he was still stronger than when he had first obtained Shigure Kira (T). His training during this period had not been in vain.
Evan shook his sore right hand. When he was swinging the bamboo sword earlier, even though he had used both hands multiple times, his right hand had done most of the work, with his left playing a supporting role. Now, his right hand was in much worse shape than his left. Looking at his slightly trembling, almost uncontrollable right hand, Evan grinned.
"You have to keep working hard, my麒麟臂(Qílín bì) [Kirin Arm]. Your future goal should be to take down a Honkai Beast with one punch."
And then, he continued his training.
Rest? The unhurried walk from Senba Academy back to his dorm was his rest. If he waited for his hands and spirit to fully recover, it would take at least two or three days, and Evan had no intention of wasting that time.
According to scientific theory, the optimal sleep time for teenagers is eight to nine hours, and for adults, about eight hours a day. But Evan had no intention of blindly following theory. After a week of experimentation, he found that with his constitution, six hours of sleep gave him the same effect as eight hours for a normal person. So, Evan had been going to bed at midnight and waking up at six in the morning.
Normally, that amount of rest wouldn't be considered too little, but that was for people who didn't exert themselves excessively. Evan's daily training volume was enough to exhaust a strong man, and it couldn't be fixed with just six hours of sleep.
Today was a new day, the beginning of the week, a day for students to go to school.
Compared to the others who occasionally complained about the long school hours and short weekends, Evan was actually relieved. Although he knew it wasn't right to doze off in class, banking on the teachers' favor, he genuinely felt that Monday to Friday was much more relaxing than his weekends. During the day, he could get some rest, more or less.
If interacting with Mei was a way for his mind to relax, then the school time from Monday to Friday was a brief rest for his body. It was also thanks to the fact that he already knew the high school curriculum; even if his behavior didn't meet the standards of an excellent student, his test scores were good enough. Otherwise, the teachers would have made him focus in class for the sake of his future.
Faced with the helpless gazes of his beautiful teachers, Evan felt deeply apologetic but had no intention of changing. He wasn't deliberately wasting his time.
"Evan, are you still not coming to the cafeteria with us? It seems like you've never been there."
The usual invitation came. Although Evan hadn't answered yet, his classmates had already guessed the answer. After all, he had said it many times before.
"No, thank you. I've prepared my own food. Maybe next time. Sorry."
A polite but firm refusal. The classmates were helpless. At first, everyone thought he was using this as a tactful way to reject them because the person who invited him didn't meet his standards. The first girl to invite him was even heartbroken for a while. But then they discovered that Evan said the same thing to everyone who invited him.
He treated everyone equally. Now, no one was heartbroken over the rejection. Instead, they were a little happy. They just silently kept trying, holding onto the idea that with enough sincerity, they could move a heart of stone.