Rowan stood there in a daze.
No doubt about it his first impression was that he felt lighter.
Whether it was the sensation of throwing off the covers or the effort it took to sit up, everything felt strangely effortless.
It was like he'd been training under heavy weights for days and had just removed them all at once.
"Could it be…"
Rowan's eyes widened as he looked down at his hands.
They looked the same as always. No visible change.
He frowned and got to his feet.
Then he tried bending his knees and jumped.
Whoosh Thud!
Rowan shot up from where he stood like an NBA player going for a slam dunk. His head slammed into the ceiling with a loud thump.
Smack.
Stunned, Rowan landed on the floor and rubbed his head.
The ceiling in this motel room was about 2.8 meters high. Rowan stood at 1.9 meters. That meant he'd cleared about 90 centimeters with ease and he hadn't even used his full strength.
More importantly, he could tell his upward momentum hadn't peaked yet. That 90 centimeters? Not even his limit.
"My strength and jumping power improved?"
The thought popped into his head instinctively.
He had never been able to jump like that before.
A spark of excitement flashed across Rowan's face.
But he still couldn't quite believe it.
He threw a few test punches into the air.
Whoom! Whoosh!
The sound of fists tearing through the air echoed around the room.
Rowan's eyes lit up with amazement.
His punches were faster much faster than before. And he felt like his stamina had leveled up significantly too.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Overcome with energy, Rowan flowed into a full-on shadowboxing routine like he used to during training.
Quick footwork paired with sharp, fluid punches his movements were fierce, crisp, and satisfying to watch.
He kept at it for ten minutes straight before finally stopping, grinning from ear to ear.
He was definitely stronger.
Ten minutes of high-intensity shadowboxing left him only slightly sweaty. He still had plenty of energy to spare.
Before, ten minutes of that would've left him exhausted. Now, he'd barely broken a sweat.
Rowan could clearly feel the difference. His strength, speed, explosiveness, endurance even his reaction time had all undergone a dramatic leap.
The feeling of leveling up this quickly was intoxicating.
No wonder Earthlings in Swallowed Star were able to walk the path of evolution through the RR virus.
"When I get back, I need to test my current stats properly," Rowan reminded himself.
Instinctively, he glanced at the clock.
7:12 p.m.
"Serena should be home soon…"
He stared at the time on the wall.
He needed to get back before Serena Yue returned.
If she got home and didn't find him there, she'd definitely worry.
Worse, if she checked the surveillance footage and saw him vanish into thin air from the apartment, things would spiral fast.
"But if I go back to the Marvel world now, wouldn't I risk carrying the RR virus with me?"
His heart skipped a beat.
"Wait if clothes and air were enough to carry the virus, then I would've already brought it back yesterday."
He suddenly remembered his previous round-trip test and let out a wry smile.
"Still, I should double-check, just in case. I'm definitely infected now."
He spotted a computer in the room and walked over to turn it on.
Once the browser was up, he typed:
'After being infected with the RR virus, is it still contagious?'
The results popped up quickly.
According to the medical information, after a person's fever breaks and their body temperature returns to normal, they begin producing antibodies and are no longer contagious.
Reading this, Rowan finally let out a sigh of relief.
As long as he wasn't infectious himself, it would be fine.
As for whether his clothes or the surrounding air might still carry traces of the virus, he couldn't be sure.
His only hope now was that the dimensional vortex created by the dual-channel ring had some kind of filtration mechanism. He had no other options.
After all, even a full-body sanitization couldn't clean the air around him.
He couldn't just stop using the gate out of fear.
After scanning through a few more related articles, Rowan shut down the computer.
"Time to head back."
He raised his hand to activate the ring and return to the Marvel world but then paused.
Something looked off about the gem on the ring.
"Wait… there are only six left?"
Rowan stared at it, confused.
He counted again carefully.
"One, two, three, four, five, six."
There really were only six glowing sapphire gems left.
Rowan frowned in thought.
Yesterday, when he first activated the ring, he'd used it once to go through, once to return, and once again to re-enter this world a total of three gems consumed.
At that point, he still had seven glowing gems left.
But now, only six remained.
"Does staying in the Swallowed Star world also consume energy?"
"Looks like if I stay for more than a day, it uses an extra gem's worth of power…"
He felt like he was starting to understand the ring's rules and sighed.
"Looks like I need to make contact with Tony Stark sooner rather than later. Without a high-level energy source, recharging this thing won't be sustainable."
Rowan thought to himself, then snapped his fingers.
Immediately, a swirling vortex of dark blue energy enveloped him, and his figure vanished from the motel room.
The next second, Rowan reappeared in his room.
It was late now. The room was pitch dark since he hadn't left any lights on.
But to his surprise, his vision remained clear.
"Looks like the RR virus boosted my eyesight too."
If the base's facilities weren't closed for the night, he would've gone to get a full-body analysis right then and there.
"I wonder if I brought the virus back with me… If I did, Serena would probably be the first to catch it."
Rowan couldn't help but worry.
Still, from what he'd just read online, the RR virus had a mortality rate of only about ten percent among strong, healthy adults. The stronger the body, the lower the risk.
Most of the deaths during the Great Cataclysm had been among the elderly and physically weak children.
Serena's physical fitness was far above average. Even if she did get infected, the risk of life-threatening complications was low.
"I'll know for sure tomorrow. For now, I should make her dinner."
Rowan turned on the lights and pushed the concern out of his mind.
He walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. Inside, he grabbed two tomatoes, two passion fruits, some vegetables, and a bit of green onion, garlic, and ginger.
From the freezer, he pulled out a piece of tenderloin beef.
He planned to make tomato passion fruit beef stew.
It was one of Serena's favorite dishes tangy, sweet, refreshing, and incredibly appetizing.
In fact, the dish was a simplified version of Guizhou's sour soup hot pot.
After thawing the beef in the microwave, Rowan rinsed some rice and set the rice cooker.
You had to eat this dish with rice. Bread just didn't feel right.
Once everything was prepped, he began chopping the vegetables.
Before long, the kitchen was filled with the warmth and fragrance of home-cooked food.
When Serena returned home, Rowan was just placing the finished dish on the table.
Steam rose in curls from the pot, and the rich aroma instantly brought a smile to her face the moment she stepped through the door.
"Rowan!"
"Welcome back, Serena."
He looked up just in time to see her walk through the door.
"Mm, I'm home."
Serena quickly slipped off her black heels and traded them for slippers. She smiled and stepped up to the table, leaning over to take in the fragrance of the dish.
The sweet, tangy aroma made her stomach growl. She couldn't stop a smile from blooming on her face.
"This smells amazing. I got home at just the right time."
Playfully, she used two fingers to grab a tender slice of beef, gave it a couple of quick puffs to cool it, and popped it into her mouth.
"Mmm… So good!"
Rowan chuckled, watching her lose all her usual composed, professional demeanor.
"You could've waited for me to get you some chopsticks, you know."
"Blame you for making it smell so good. Besides, I haven't eaten since noon. I'm starving!"
She licked her fingers with a grin.
"All right, go wash your hands. I'll serve the rice." Rowan reached over and ruffled her hair. Her soft, golden-brown hair felt smooth and pleasant to the touch.
"Don't mess up my hair. I'm your sister!" Serena puffed up in mock outrage, trying to sound stern.
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Rowan laughed as he gently nudged her toward the bathroom.
They were half-siblings same mother, different fathers.
Serena was twenty-five, and Rowan was sixteen.
After their mother passed away, Serena had taken on the responsibility of raising Rowan herself.
Technically, she was the elder sister who had taken on a motherly role, but because of Rowan's mental maturity, it was hard for him to treat her entirely like a big sister. Sometimes, he even saw her as a younger sibling instead.
Plus, Rowan never called her "sis," which drove Serena absolutely crazy.
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Hi everyone! More chapters are on the way just leave a review, share your thoughts in the comments, and toss in a Power Stone to show your support!