He slept until dawn.
Michael was awakened by the clamor of human voices.
After washing up, standing by the window and looking at the bustling prosperity of Chinatown, Michael couldn't help but sigh. As expected, as long as one possesses Chinese blood, no matter where they go, they can transform that place into a prosperous land!
...Leaving the small hotel, after eating a U.S.-style modified Chinese meal in Chinatown, Michael walked towards the small apartment that had just been transferred to his name, his face full of peculiar expressions.
Just thinking about how he could eat delicious Chinese cuisine anytime, anywhere the day before, what exactly was this U.S.-style modified Chinese meal he was eating now?
Michael swore he had never eaten such a terrible 'Chinese meal'!
In the end, Michael had no choice but to spend a full ten U.S. dollars at the supermarket to buy a pack of completely flavorless whole wheat bread and a bottle of the legendary Old Gan Ma from the Ancient Eastern Country to eat with it, barely managing to appease his rebellious stomach.
Sighing, Michael 'with difficulty' found his 'new home' by following the address on the navigation.
After fumbling on the doorframe for a moment, he found a key and opened the door. Michael was completely beyond complaining...
Sitting in his 'new home', he no longer paid attention to the old furniture; it was, after all, only a temporary residence.
Michael began to think about how to maximize the use of his remaining 14 energy points.
The language problem must be solved!
Having walked all the way here, although most of the surrounding Chinese and Chinese-Americans were speaking Chinese, the uncomfortable, even more uncomfortable, accents still gave Michael a headache.
Moreover, thinking about how communication would be a problem once he left Chinatown, he absolutely had to solve the language issue.
While blending into the surrounding crowd and using the environment to subtly learn would solve spoken communication, it would waste too much time.
And for Michael, time was precisely what he lacked most!
Things like the Sunset Purple Sweet Potato were still far off, so he wouldn't mention them for now.
Just consider that when night falls, Michael would definitely follow Hit-Girl's location to pick up scraps behind her.
Although picking up scraps doesn't require verbal communication, he still needed to know what others were saying and doing. To know, he first had to understand what he was hearing.
Therefore, it became an urgent priority for Michael to use the [mutated gem] to quickly learn English...
Michael first tried to use the [mutated gem] to grant himself proficiency in English listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
But the information feedback from the [mutated gem] startled Michael, and he quickly sent a thought to the [mutated gem] to revoke the action.
A full 10 energy points!
This was the information the [mutated gem] fed back to Michael.
Michael didn't know if granting a human a master skill really required this much energy, or if it only required this much energy specifically for him.
Michael also didn't know if the 10 energy points required to grant a human a master skill was a lot or a little.
But Michael only had 14 energy points left; if he directly granted himself English proficiency, wouldn't he only have a mere 4 energy points remaining?
What could 4 energy points do?
Perhaps it could add some money to his bank account?
But to make that money legitimate and legal, he would have to modify the memories of a large number of relevant personnel, and these 4 energy points would be nowhere near enough!
Manifesting some gold out of thin air? What for? To get himself robbed?
The most urgent task now was to gain the ability to protect himself.
At least he couldn't be easily caught and then simply starved or suffocated to death!
Michael thought carefully; perhaps there were some tricks involved.
Michael could feel that his utilization of the [mutated gem] was still too simple and crude.
He would first conduct some experiments to see if the [mutated gem]'s abilities were as he imagined.
Michael had a vague understanding of the [mutated gem]'s abilities, but he wouldn't know if this feeling was correct until he tried it...
First, Michael searched through his entire 'new home' and found some discarded plastic products and ironware in the utility room; some of the ironware had even rusted.
Then, Michael divided these iron pieces into xxx portions.
He took out the high-end Huawei laptop he had manifested earlier, turned it on, and connected it to the internet.
After preparing, Michael began to test the application of the [mutated gem]'s abilities.
Experiment One: Without using anything, Michael directly imagined in his mind — manifesting a Glock 19 pistol.
As a pseudo-U.S. drama fan (only watching Marvel and its spin-offs), Michael knew this was a pistol with a very high appearance rate for the New York Police Department (NYPD) in U.S. dramas.
But Michael didn't know the gun's structure, nor did he even know what materials it was made of.
The purpose of the experiment was to see how much energy it would take to manifest a Glock 19 when Michael only knew its name and appearance!
With a thought, the [mutated gem] responded that it would require a full 1 energy point!
Of course, Michael immediately gave up the idea of manufacturing it, continuing to retain his 14 energy points.
Experiment Two: Michael went to one of the piles of discarded plastic and scrap iron he had sorted, and similarly imagined — using the existing materials in front of him to manifest a Glock 19.
The purpose of the experiment was to see if the [mutated gem] would cost less energy to manifest if Michael prepared roughly possible manufacturing materials.
Indeed! Michael guessed correctly!
Facing the discarded plastic and scrap iron in front of him, the [mutated gem] gave feedback: it would only require 0.7 energy points!
"Wow!"
"I really am a genius!"
Michael excitedly jumped up!
Of course, Michael quickly gave up this idea, continuing to retain his 14 energy points.
After a long while, Michael suppressed his still excited mood and began the final experiment.
Experiment Three: Memorize a complete firearm manufacturing blueprint, and then use those scraps — to manifest a Glock 19.
Michael directly skipped the step of manifesting out of thin air using the blueprint, because if Experiment Three could achieve energy savings, it would mean that manifesting directly out of thin air using a blueprint would certainly also save energy. And with Michael's thoughts, the result was naturally very pleasing!
[mutated gem]'s feedback was...