Gali rolled her eyes, opened the door with her short legs, and clung to Blaine like a koala.
Blaine was the first person who treated her kindly after she arrived on Earth, so she developed a strong sense of dependence on him.
In this regard, Blaine could only let her hang on.
Anyway, Gali was light — almost weightless.
"Are you hungry today?"
"No."
"Want to eat sothing delicious?"
"Think so."
"Then I'll order sothing tasty now. Eastern food or Western?"
"Authentic Western food!"
"No problem."
For ordinary folks like Blaine, if it tasted good, he'd just eat more of it. Paying a fair price afterward was the best complint for the chef. Fancy praise and wine pairings were unnecessary fluff.
Words didn't fill bellies. Money did.
That said, authentic Western food was hard to find too. Most restaurants which had cuisine from other countries in the U.S. were heavily Aricanized and had long strayed from their cultural flavours.
Especially when it ca to sugar — Aricans loved their food 'sweet'. Anyone from a place, where sugar isn't overused in savory dishes, would likely find U.S. cuisine cloying and unnatural at first.
But luckily, Blaine knew a place. A real one.
It was a small but genuine restaurant he used to frequent. There was not much crowd usually, which ant fresh, high-quality ingredients and minimal alterations to recipes.
He called and ordered a full al for the night, even paid a deposit for delivery.
The kitchen of that restaurant was efficient. Their back-of-house setup and burners capable of cooking multiple dishes quickly while maintaining flavour. With several chefs working in tandem, the whole order would be done and delivered within 90 minutes.
When the food arrived, Blaine dug in.
He hadn't eaten properly in two days.
Still, Gali ended up eating more than him. No matter how many stomachs Blaine had — ten, a hundred, or even a billion — he'd never match Gali's appetite.
After dinner.
Gali insisted on dragging Blaine to bed with her.
In the end, he had no choice but to sleep beside her.
He had to admit — Gali made a very comfortable pillow. She was not too small nor too big, soft, almost like she had no bones.
Of course, anyone assuming she was fragile would be dead wrong. Blaine knew exactly how much power was hidden beneath that petite fra.
The night passed peacefully.
The next morning, just as the sun rose—
Blaine's phone buzzed with a notification.
[Transfer complete.]
Three billion — not a cent short.
The mont the deposit hit his account, Blaine's sleepiness vanished. He gently moved Gali off his chest, sat up, and opened his system interface.
Sure enough, the balance read: 3,004,800,000.
"Nice."
A smile tugged at the corner of his lips — excitent brewing in his chest.
Three billion. Just how much could he buy with that?
He walked to the bathroom, picked up his toothbrush and rinse cup, and began brushing his teeth.
Still, shopping could wait.
First, it was ti to look at his skill tree.
---
[Current Skills]
Diamond Body Lv.4
Absolute Hit Lv.3
Hawkeye Lv.3
Mind Control Lv.3
Shadow Stealth Lv.3
Mind Reading
Danger Perception
Regeneration
---
The last three skills — 'Mind Reading', 'Danger Perception', and 'Self-Healing' — weren't upgradable. 'Shadow Stealth' had already maxed out at Level 3.
That left four upgradeable abilities: 'Diamond Body', 'Absolute Hit', 'HawkEye', and 'Mind Control'.
'Absolute Hit' was fine for now.
'Hawkeye' too — after all, the current battles were still Earthbound. Seeing across galaxies wouldn't help... yet.
'Mind Control' was tempting. Very useful in many scenarios. Blaine did consider upgrading it.
But in the end, he paused, toothbrush still in mouth, froth building, and made his decision.
Upgrade Diamond Body.
---
The 'Diamond Body' was sowhat similar to the 'Man of Steel' buff he had before Lv.3 — mainly physical durability — but after Lv.3, it started diverging. Unlike the 'Man of Steel', which offered near-zero resistance to magic, 'Diamond Body' after Lv.4 could resist magical damage equally as well as physical.
From a practical standpoint, while the na 'Diamond Body' might not sound too fancy, its actual effects were superior.
Whether it was fighting Natasha, dealing with Emil Blonsky (The Abomination), or surviving the clash between Thor and Tony Stark on the plane yesterday — this skill was the backbone of his defense.
It had proven its worth.
And Blaine was cautious by nature.
He didn't mind letting others wear themselves out punching him while he stood firm like a wall.
---
[Upgrade Requirent: Diamond Body Lv.5]
Cost: 1 Billion
A flat increase — double the last upgrade. Still within his budget.
After jumping from ten million to five hundred million for the previous level, this seed reasonable.
Without hesitation, he clicked Upgrade.
'One billion deducted.'
Upgrade complete.
Blaine instantly felt his physique rise sharply — a powerful sensation humming through his bones and muscles.
His current physical strength stat was 100 — already one hundred tis stronger than a regular human.
At Lv.4, that was enough to tank hits from opponents with physique stats of 300–400.
Now, at Lv.5, he could confidently withstand attacks from enemies with physique levels as high as 500–600.
Sure, his offensive power might not yet match such high-level foes, but his defense would be impenetrable.
Even if soone managed to break his arm, his [Regeneration] skill would restore it in seconds.
Comfortable.
Still smiling, Blaine spat out the foam, rinsed his mouth, and walked out of the bathroom.
One billion spent. Two billion left.
Plenty more fun ahead.
*************************************
You can get access to early chapters on patr*on
If you like my work and you want to support
then you can beco my patron on patre*n.
My patr*on account is Lord_Immortal_0170
Reviews
All reviews (0)