Paige Summers developed a high fever right after she woke up.
She felt she was unbelievably unlucky!
Thankfully, though her head was heavy and she felt dizzy, she wasn't completely bedridden. She could only rely on sheer willpower to keep going. She couldn't let Woody Warren, the burly owner of Integrity Furniture who had taken her in, think she was this useless!
The two of them had Nutrition Cakes and a bowl of soup that was slightly murkier than water for breakfast, and then prepared to start their work.
It had to be said, Nutrition Cakes tasted absolutely awful—bitter and astringent!
But in an age like this, what could be done…
Since the start of the apocalypse, it wasn't just living species that had mutated; the land itself had changed, too. Arable land became increasingly scarce, and crop yields plummeted. Despite humanity's constant experiments and efforts to improve cultivation, foods like steamed buns and rice had become luxuries. Even compressed biscuits were considered precious. For the lower classes, survival largely depended on a substance called "Nutrition Cake." It was said to be made from some kind of non-toxic mutant plant mixed with carbohydrates, its only function to ward off hunger and provide the bare minimum for survival.
Paige Summers sighed quietly, resolving to make time to train herself. If she could go hunting outside the city, at least there would be Mutant Animal meat to eat!
"What are you spacing out for? Get over here and help!" Woody Warren's shout broke through her thoughts, leaving her no more time to dwell on them.
She couldn't move the heavy lumber, so she was stuck with odd jobs. However, Woody Warren, who possessed a Strength System superpower, worked with incredible speed, quickly processing several massive logs. The next step was assembling tables and chairs. Paige Summers watched the process carefully one time through and essentially mastered the basics. Woody Warren unceremoniously delegated the assembly work to her and went back to processing more lumber.
Paige Summers discovered that her right arm was, in fact, completely healed. Actions like sawing or hammering felt much smoother than when she used her left hand.
Following Woody Warren's technique, she assembled two chairs in no time.
"Not bad." Woody Warren looked them over, the first smile of the day finally appearing on his face.
Paige Summers forced a smile. She had just about used up all her strength; now her body felt incredibly heavy, and she could barely lift her arms.
'This is awful!'
Just as she was thinking this, Paige Summers felt several heavy pats on her shoulder. She turned her head sluggishly. Woody Warren's smiling face grew larger and larger before her eyes… until it became a blur…
When she woke again, she found herself lying alone on the single bed in her room. From outside, she could faintly hear the whir of machinery processing wood.
Paige Summers exhaled in frustration. 'I actually fainted!'
However…
She hesitantly held out her right hand and arm. Something felt… different.
Somehow, a thought suddenly surfaced in her mind—that a change had occurred.
She reached over, picked up the wooden drinking cup on the table, and held her middle finger over the opening.
Focusing on that inexplicable feeling, she watched as the tip of her finger began to slowly turn black.
A few seconds later, a drop of viscous liquid condensed on her fingertip and fell with a soft DRIP. Another drop followed, and then another, until five drops had formed a shallow layer covering the bottom of the cup. Paige Summers realized that was all there was, and lowered her hand.
She stared blankly at the liquid in the cup, her mind reeling.
'This is too bizarre!'
'Just because I was bitten by a giant python, I can now secrete Poisonous Liquid?!'
'No, it's more than that.'
She could even feel waves of heat surging through her right arm, and with them, immense power!
'But… this… has to be a good thing, right…?'
Paige Summers soon discovered that the superpower she had gained from this evolution was even more useful than she had thought.
The most immediate proof of this was her ability to lift the massive lumber!
Woody Warren had seen her feverish state and guessed she might be evolving a superpower, so she gave him a convenient explanation: she'd awakened a partial Power Ability. As for the Poisonous Liquid, she decided that would be her trump card, something to be kept secret at all costs.
The following days at the furniture store passed quite smoothly for Paige Summers.
Each day, it only took her a little over half the day to complete the quota of tables and chairs Woody Warren had set for her. He was very generous with the remaining time, allowing her to use it as she pleased.
She, in turn, took this opportunity to train her new body, using scrap wood from the shop.
As a Superpower User, her senses were sharper than those of an ordinary person, but they were still no match for her original body, which had been honed by more than a decade of Artifact Making.