A few seconds later, Lu Yuan unhesitatingly added the skill point to [Absolute Focus], which instantly advanced from Lv. 1 to Lv. 2.
Currently, the Fighter class offered several skills: Initial Body Forging, Basic Fist Skill, and the Basic Leg Skill he had grasped today. Before Lv. 3, gaining Experience Points was relatively easy. He could train a skill from Lv. 1 to Lv. 2 in two or three days. The Experience Points required to level from Lv. 2 to Lv. 3 had doubled, and the difficulty of acquiring them had also increased slightly, but it would take at most a week to reach the next level.
Trading a precious skill point to save three to five days? That just wasn't worth it; it was an absolute waste.
So, Lu Yuan chose to upgrade his current and only Core Skill—[Absolute Focus].
It seems that the only way to upgrade Core Skills is with skill points, because no Experience Points were displayed beneath Core Skills.
"Mom, I've finished eating."
After quickly finishing the last of the food in his bowl, Lu Yuan stood up and spoke to his mother, Zheng Qiuling. He was eager to go upstairs and test the effects of Lv. 2 [Absolute Focus] as soon as possible.
"Did you eat enough? If not, go eat some more. After you finish, just leave the dishes in the sink. I'll wash them tonight."
"Got it."
Just as Lu Yuan was about to step out of the back door, a customer suddenly came into the shop.
"Five bags of rice, two bags of flour, salt, peanut oil, soy sauce..."
The customer was a woman in her sixties who bought a large amount of goods all at once. Lu Yuan found her somewhat familiar; she seemed to live nearby.
Lu Yuan, who had originally planned to go back upstairs, couldn't help but pause.
"Why did you buy so much? Are you hosting a banquet at home?"
This old woman's order was a "big sale," and his mother was clearly in a good mood. As she quickly helped the woman gather her goods, she couldn't help but ask.
"Haven't you watched the news? People have been disappearing around the west side of the city lately."
The old woman replied with a worried look, "I thought I'd stock up on some things so my family can go out less..."
Upon hearing this, Zheng Qiuling's expression also became serious. "Now that you mention it," she said, "when I was minding the shop this morning, I saw police officers with notebooks going from shop to shop asking questions. It seems pretty serious..."
"Yes, and you might not know this, but a child from the apartment building next to ours has apparently gone missing..."
The more the two women chatted, the more enthusiastic they became. Zheng Qiuling pulled up a stool for the old woman, and they sat down by the electric fan to chat.
Lu Yuan could hear everything clearly, his expression changing slightly.
The missing persons case from last week still hasn't been solved? It even seems to be getting worse?
It even involved people from their neighborhood.
But the old lady's information is mostly hearsay; it's best to take it with a grain of salt.
Lu Yuan saw that his mother and the old woman were getting quite carried away with their gossip, even including the missing dog from the bun shop last month in the list of disappearances. This further confirmed his skepticism.
He simply took his bowl and chopsticks upstairs. By the time he came back down after sitting in the living room for a while, the gossip session had ended.
His mom was discussing delivery matters with the old woman.
"...Why don't I have someone deliver the items to you later? Just leave your address and phone number with me."
"Later? When would that be?"
"They'll definitely be delivered by six or seven at the latest..."
"Mom."
Lu Yuan went up and interrupted their conversation, "How about I go? I'm free right now anyway."
"You?"
Zheng Qiuling looked at the large pile of rice bags, flour, cooking oil, and other things at the shop entrance, her expression hesitant. "Can you carry all that? That's quite a lot of stuff."
"Don't worry, my recent training hasn't been for nothing."
Lu Yuan went straight to get the keys hanging on the wall. "The vehicle is in the backyard, right?"
"Yes."
Zheng Qiuling nodded, then couldn't help but ask, "Yuan, are you sure you can manage? Why don't we wait and let your dad deliver it when he comes back from the hospital?"
"No need."
Lu Yuan, already holding the keys, ran into the stairwell by the back door.
Passing through the corridor, he saw an electric tricycle parked in a shady spot in the backyard.
Lu Yuan had worked as a deliveryman for a while after graduating from college in his previous life, and he was quite adept with electric tricycles.
He easily reversed the tricycle out of the yard and parked it in front of their small shop.
Next was loading the goods onto the tricycle, the part Zheng Qiuling was most worried about.
However, her worries quickly vanished as Lu Yuan effortlessly tossed several fifty-plus-pound bags of rice onto the vehicle.
"What a sensible young man! Handsome and strong too. Madam, you've raised a fine son!"
The old woman praised Lu Yuan non-stop, which made Zheng Qiuling smile from ear to ear.
"His grades are excellent too, always among the top in his class..."
"That's impressive."
Lu Yuan loaded all the items onto the tricycle and helped the old woman onto the seat. Then, he bid farewell to Zheng Qiuling, twisted the throttle, and drove off.
"Be careful, drive slowly on the road."
Even from a distance, he could hear Zheng Qiuling shouting after him.
The old woman's home was indeed not far. The electric tricycle ride took only two minutes.
The only tricky part was that the old lady lived on the fifth floor, and Lu Yuan had to carry everything up for her, item by item.
After four or five trips up and down, he finally managed to deliver all five bags of rice, two bags of flour, the cooking oil, and everything else upstairs.
Lu Yuan was quite tired. He sat on the tricycle, drinking the bottled water the old lady had given him and resting for a moment. Despite the exertion, he felt a sense of accomplishment.
The two-point increase to his physique had made a noticeable difference.
Although a fifty-plus-pound bag of rice still felt somewhat heavy in his arms, carrying it up five flights of stairs in one go wasn't particularly strenuous.
Compared to before, when he would have had to rest three times just going up to the fourth floor, this was undoubtedly a huge improvement.
My current physique is probably comparable to that of a regularly exercising, strong adult male. Much stronger than the average high school student…
This was Lu Yuan's estimate based on his previous increase in Intelligence.
Eight points was the average for a high school student, while nine was the standard for an adult male. Ten points meant reaching the 'top' or 'elite' tier among ordinary people.
My Student Class is about to go from Lv. 3 to Lv. 4; I only need a few dozen more Experience Points. My Fighter class is also close to leveling up from Lv. 2 to Lv. 3. I'll definitely gain two attribute points soon. With these two attribute points, I should have a great chance of passing the Origin Martial Arts Hall's official disciple assessment! The future looks promising!
Lu Yuan indulged in a brief, pleasant daydream about the future.
He tossed the empty water bottle into the tricycle's cargo bed, twisted the throttle, and sped towards home.
「In the afternoon」
Lu Yuan, as usual, set aside two hours for studying. With the monthly exams approaching, the school had assigned mostly review work, significantly reducing the amount of homework.