Lin Hao stood in the dark, breathing hard.
The adrenaline from the upgrade, from the sheer, raw power of punching a hole in his desk, was a potent drug.
His blood was still singing, his new "Iron Skin" tingling with energy.
Outside, the shouting and the car alarms were not fading. If anything, they were getting louder.
A new sound joined the mix: the distant, high-pitched thwack-thwack-thwack of a police helicopter, its searchlight probably sweeping over the blacked-out city blocks.
He looked at the hole in his desk, the splintered wood proof of his new reality. He looked at the [$Self Upgrade$] tab, still floating in his vision.
[Upgrade: Level 2: Adept (Muscle Weaving)]? (Cost: 10 UP)
It was so tempting. His 90 UP felt like a heavyweight in a digital wallet, begging to be spent. He could feel that rush of power again. And again.
He could be a Grandmaster, a Level 4 expert, right now. In a world that was clearly descending into chaos, being the strongest person around seemed like the only smart move.
But the cold, analytical part of his brain, the part that had been suffocated by stress but was now running with crystal-clear clarity, held him back.
"No," he whispered, forcing his will to obey his logic. "Don't be an idiot, Lin Hao. You're not a hot-blooded idiot from a webnovel. You're a planner."
He had failed his old life. After all, he was impulsive because he crammed, and he never had a long-term plan. This was his second chance. He would not, could not, make the same mistake.
The System was a puzzle. It was testing him. And the first test was a simple one: patience.
Why was [Level 4: Grandmaster] so cheap, a total of 30 UP, while [Level 2: Waste Root] cost 100 UP?
The answer was obvious. The System was telling him, in no uncertain terms, that potential was more valuable than power.
A flawless foundation was everything. Rushing to Level 4 with a "Mortal Root" was a trap. It was a tower built on sand, and he knew how those stories ended.
"I have to understand the whole system," he muttered. "Not just the first button I see."
He forced his mental gaze away from the tempting [$Self Upgrade$] tab. He had 90 points, and he wasn't spending another one until he knew all the rules.
He mentally navigated to the [$Object Upgrade$] tab.
[Please select a target object (must be in physical contact with Host).]
He looked around, using his cracked phone's flashlight. The beam landed on the fan, the one that had let out a puff of smoke and died. He touched the cheap plastic casing.
[Object: Broken Electric Fan (Junk)] [Details: Fried motor, plastic casing. Worthless.] [Upgrade: Low-Grade Spirit Grade Artifact (Qi-Gathering Turbine)]? (Cost: 50 UP)
His eyes widened. "Fifty UP? For a fan?"
That was half of his entire starting budget. It was five times the cost of his own [Iron Skin] upgrade. He didn't even know what a "Qi-Gathering Turbine" did, though he could guess. It probably... gathered Qi. Pulled the new Reiki from the air to make his room a better place to cultivate?
It was powerful, yes. But it was expensive.
He turned his light to his desk, to the offending textbook. Digital Control Systems. He placed his hand on the cover.
[Object: 'Digital Control Systems' Textbook (Mortal Grade)] [Details: A primer on engineering feedback loops. Smudged with... noodle soup?] [Upgrade: Low-Grade Spirit Tier Knowledge Tome (Basic Control Theory)]? (Cost: 100 UP)
"A hundred points!" he whispered, shocked. "All of my starting points, just to upgrade a textbook?"
He pulled his hand back as if the book were hot. A "Knowledge Tome"—would it just beam the information into his head? Would it have saved him from his 'F' grade?
Maybe. But the price was insane.
He was starting to see the picture. His 90 UP, which had felt like a fortune a minute ago, was nothing. It was starter cash, and he was already window-shopping for items he couldn't afford.
This meant his daily income, the 100 UP, was the single most important resource he had.
And that brought him to the real question.
His engineering mind took over. "A system is a loop. Input, processing, output. My 'output' is spending points on myself or on objects. My 'input' is the 100 UP I get every day. The entire game... the entire system... must be built around that input."
How did he increase it?
One hundred points a day was amazing, but he'd just seen costs of 50 and 100 UP. At this rate, he'd be saving for two whole days just to upgrade a single textbook. That wasn't an "Infinite" system. That was a grind.
There had to be a way to make more.
He had checked three of the four tabs. [$Status$] was just information. [$Self Upgrade$] cost points. [$Object Upgrade$] costs a lot of points.
That left only one. The one he had dismissed an hour ago as a useless, crazy, "point sink" for idiots.
He mentally focused, and the blue screen shifted.
[$World Upgrade$]
He saw the same information as before, but now the world's status was real, not hypothetical.
[Current Plane: Lower Spiritual Plane] [Cultivation Ceiling: Level 9: The Perfect Foundation (Peak Houtian)] [Global Reiki Density: 0.01% (Rising)] [PLANAR ASCENSION: Upgrade to Middle Spiritual Plane]? (LOCKED - Cost: 10,000,000 UP)
His eyes slid right past the ten-million-point upgrade. That was a problem for another century.
His gaze landed on the first, cheapest option.
[Daily Boost: Increase Global Reiki Density (0.01%)]? (Cost: 10 UP)
He scoffed again, just as he had before. "Spend 10 of my 90 points... for a 0.01% boost to the planet? That's insane. Why would I do that? It's a waste."
He was about to close the tab, his investigation over, his mind already calculating how long he'd have to save to get his [Waste Root] upgrade.
But he stopped.
"Wait."
He was a planner now. He was the guy who read the fine print. He had failed his exam because he skimmed the textbook, not because he read it. He would not make that mistake again.
He scanned the entire $World Upgrade$ tab, from top to bottom. And there, at the very bottom, in small, non-flashing text, was a line he hadn't noticed before. It looked like a footnote.
He focused on it. A tooltip window expanded, clear and bright.
[System Rule 7.1: The Ascension Bonus]
[To incentivize the Host's primary objective (Planar Ascension), investing any amount of UP into the $World Upgrade$ tab will double your next daily UP gain.]
Lin Hao stopped breathing.
His vision narrowed until that single sentence was the only thing in the universe.
He read it again.
...investing ANY amount of UP into the $World Upgrade$ tab...
...will DOUBLE your next daily UP gain.
"Double."
The word echoed in his mind.
His engineer's brain, the one that had been clouded with stress and fog, now kicked into high gear. It was like his new [Iron Skin] upgrade had cleaned his mind as well. The numbers crunched themselves with an almost frightening speed.
"Wait. I got 100 UP for today. I have 90 left." "If I spend 10 UP on this 'Daily Boost' right now..." "At midnight tonight, which is in... 21 hours... do I get 100 UP, or do I get 200 UP?"
The rule was clear: ...will double your NEXT daily gain.
He would get 200 UP.
A cold, exhilarating shiver, more powerful than the [Iron Skin] upgrade, ran down his spine.
"Okay. So tomorrow... I'll have 80 UP left from today, plus the new 200 UP. That's 280 UP." "What if... what if tomorrow, I spend another 10 UP on the World Boost?" "Does it double again? Does the 200 become 400?"
Yes. The logic was sound. The day after, he'd get 400. If he did it again, 800. Then 1600. 3200. 6400. 12,800...
It was an exponential feedback loop. It was the exact subject of his failed "Digital Control Systems" exam.
This was the real "Infinite Upgrade System."
The 100 UP wasn't the gift. It was just the seed.
The System was a test. A test of patience. The impulsive user, the idiot, like he almost was, would spend all 100 UP on himself, becoming a Level 4 Grandmaster in the first hour. They'd be the strongest person on campus, a god among men.
But tomorrow, they'd only get 100 UP. And the day after, 100 UP. They'd be trapped in a slow, linear grind, forever.
But the smart user... the planner...
"The smart user invests," Lin Hao whispered.
He looked at the [Daily Boost] option. The 10 UP cost didn't look like a waste anymore. It was the single greatest investment in the history of the universe.
He wasn't spending 10 points. He was buying 100 extra points for tomorrow. A 1000% return in less than 24 hours.
This wasn't a choice. It wasn't a gamble. It was the only play.
The shouts outside, the helicopters, the chaos... it all seemed so small, so distant. They were playing a different game.
Lin Hao, his hands steady, his mind perfectly clear, gave the mental command.
"Yes. Spend 10 UP. Activate the Daily Boost."
[Deducting 10 UP. 80 UP Remaining.] [Investment Confirmed. Global Reiki Density (0.01%) added to global queue.]
And then, the most beautiful sentence he had ever read.
[Ascension Bonus: ACTIVE. Your next daily UP gain will be 200 UP.]
A new, incredibly faint thrum passed through the world. It was nothing like the first "Pulse." It was a billion times gentler. It was like the planet had just taken one, slightly deeper breath. He imagined, just for a second, that the new Reiki in his room got a tiny bit sweeter.
Lin Hao looked at his new total.
[Upgrade Points (UP): 80]
It was less than he started with, but it felt like a true fortune. It was his capital. His seed money.
The chaos outside was just noise. The real game had just begun.
It was him, his 80 points, and a 21-hour countdown until midnight.