It was a particularly hot day. The sun was blazing down on Ethereal City, and everyone was feeling sluggish. Anthony had saved up his allowance for weeks to buy himself a rare treat: a high-grade Energy Nutrient Bar.
These bars were expensive, infused with purified Qi and spiritual herbs. They were usually only eaten by cultivators to aid their breakthroughs. Anthony unwrapped the silver packaging, inhaling the sweet and rich aroma. He was just about to take his first bite.
Snatch!
A hand shot out from behind and grabbed the bar right out of his fingers.
"Thanks!" Vance laughed loudly, turning around and taking a huge, aggressive bite. "Mmm! Tastes like success! Too bad you can't afford good food, peasant. Stick to your dry bread."
He chewed with his mouth open, showing off.
Anthony looked at the half-eaten bar in Vance's hand. He didn't get angry. He just raised an eyebrow.
"Vance," Anthony said warningly. "You know, that bar contains raw, unprocessed celestial energy. It is designed to be digested slowly by someone with open meridians. If your body can't process the density... well, let's just say the results are going to be extremely messy and incredibly painful."
"Are you trying to scare me?" Vance scoffed, taking another massive bite, finishing the whole thing in three bites. "I have the soul of a Warrior! My stomach is lined with iron! I can digest anything! See? Delicious!"
He patted his stomach arrogantly and walked away, laughing with his friends. "Weakling."
Anthony just shook his head. "Foolish. The energy is already fermenting in his gut. It's going to be like a volcanic eruption."
Ten minutes later, everyone was back in History class. The room was silent except for Mr. Han droning on about ancient wars.
RUMBLE... RUMBLE... GURGLE...
A sound like a dying dragon came from Vance's stomach.
Vance's face turned pale. Then green. Then purple. He started sweating profusely.
"Mr. Han... I... I need to go... NOW!" Vance shot up from his seat so fast it scraped loudly against the floor. His hands were clamped tightly over his stomach, his face twisted in absolute horror.
Mr. Han paused his lecture, adjusting his glasses with a look of annoyance. "Can it not wait, Vance? We are discussing the pivotal battle of the Fallen Moon Dynasty. This is important history."
"It can't wait!" Vance screamed, his voice cracking. "It's not urine! It's liquid fire! I'm going to explode if I stay here another second! My insides are melting!"
The entire class turned to look, eyes wide. The noises coming from Vance were getting louder, more violent. It sounded like a thunderstorm trapped inside his body.
"Fine! Go! Go now!" Mr. Han waved frantically, sensing the imminent disaster.
Vance didn't walk. He didn't run. He teleported out of the door using every ounce of his strength, desperate to reach the facilities.
But fate, or rather Anthony, had other plans.
As Vance sprinted down the hallway, the raw energy in the nutrient bar continued to react violently with his system. The Qi was too potent, too pure, and completely incompatible with his rough warrior constitution. It was like pouring rocket fuel into a lawnmower engine.
BOOM.
A muffled sound echoed from the hallway, followed by the most horrendous stench imaginable. It wasn't just bad smell; it was a chemical weapon. The air turned visibly hazy and greenish.
Vance didn't make it to the bathroom. He didn't even make it to the end of the corridor. The consequences were... catastrophic.
Ten minutes later, the school alarm rang. Not for fire, but for Hazardous Contamination.
Teams of Healers and Mages rushed in, wearing protective masks and casting purification barriers.
"The entire west wing is compromised!" one mage shouted, waving his staff. "We need wind magic! Lots of it! And incense! Buckets of incense!"
Mr. Han evacuated the class. As they walked out, they passed the scene of the crime. Vance was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall, looking like a wilted vegetable. His clothes were ruined, his pride was ashes, and he was surrounded by glowing purification circles that were struggling to clean the area.
Anthony walked past him, covering his nose with a handkerchief embroidered with tiny runes (that he had made himself).
"I told you," Anthony said sympathetically. "Raw Qi in the digestive tract causes rapid fermentation and energetic instability. It creates a buildup of gases that even a Body Cultivator can't hold back. So messy. Really, Vance, you should have listened to the guy who actually understands chemistry."
Vance looked at him with dead eyes, tears streaming down his face. "You... you did this... you poisoned me..."
"I didn't poison you," Anthony corrected gently. "I just have a higher tolerance for divinity. You ate a god-tier snack with a mortal stomach. It's not my fault you bit off more than you could chew. Metaphorically and literally."
From that day on, nobody ever touched Anthony's food again. Ever. It was universally agreed upon that whatever Anthony ate was cursed, radioactive, or simply too powerful for normal human beings.