TSA Chapter 41

[System] You have been online for 25 consecutive hours. For your health, please log off and rest within 30 minutes.

Not long after completing the guild territory construction, it was time for Ran Qi to log off for a rest. This time, however, the system’s health reminder was delayed by an hour, which he found a bit strange.

He didn’t dwell on it. After saying goodbye to Night Owl and the others, he logged off.

After a refreshing hot shower, he glanced at his personal terminal and, unsurprisingly, found over a dozen unread messages.

To his surprise, while the first three messages were from Qu Qing, the remaining seven or eight were all from Ran Shaojun.

He opened them one by one. Qu Qing’s messages, as always, praised his cooking skills lavishly before inquiring about his health. Meanwhile, Ran Shaojun’s messages were similar, all asking where he got his ingredients and urging him to contact the family as soon as possible. His tone seemed rather urgent.

Ran Qi decided to video call Ran Shaojun. It was midday, so he didn’t have to worry about disturbing his family’s sleep.

The call was picked up after only two rings, and Ran Shaojun’s stern and handsome face appeared on the screen. Judging by the background, he seemed to be in his company.

“Dad…” Ran Qi’s demeanor was much more formal compared to when he spoke with Qu Qing, as though sitting upright would help. “What’s the matter? Did you try the stew I sent home?”

“I did. That’s why I’m contacting you,” Ran Shaojun replied, his expression growing even more serious. “Where did you get the ingredients for your cooking?”

“Online…” Ran Qi instinctively tensed up seeing his father’s stern expression. “Why? Is something wrong?”

“Which website? How much did it cost? How did you acquire it?”

“Just the Star Network… And I didn’t spend anything. It’s from a holographic game I’ve been playing recently called <Magic Realm>. It’s been trending lately and ranks on Star Network’s topic boards every day. You’ve probably heard of it, Dad.”

“The game you convinced your stepfather to buy you a gaming pod for?” Ran Shaojun raised an eyebrow.

After an accident involving a mech game, Ran Shaojun tightened control over Ran Qi’s access to electronic devices, removing anything potentially harmful to his health from the house. A gaming pod had been out of the question, but Ran Qi had secured one by getting his older brother to vouch for him and pleading with the soft-hearted Qu Qing.

Feeling a bit guilty, Ran Qi rubbed his nose. “Yeah, the ingredients came from that game. But this isn’t a combat mech game, and it has a health-monitoring mode. It’s completely safe!”

“A game… sent you natural food ingredients?” Ran Shaojun frowned, finding the explanation dubious.

“Yes! The game offers all sorts of rewards!” To convince his father, Ran Qi quickly pulled up the <Magic Realm> official website on his terminal, opened a small window, and showed screenshots of its enticing rewards. “Even my older brothers are playing! My eldest brother was part of the beta test!”

Ran Qi cunningly dragged his two brothers into the conversation as backup—what are siblings for if not to share the blame?

“Hmm? They’re in the military and still have time for games?” Ran Shaojun’s frown deepened.

“Well, they need to rest sometimes… Relaxing a bit shouldn’t be a problem, right?” Sensing trouble, Ran Qi quickly changed the subject. “Why are you asking all this? Is there something wrong with the ingredients?”

“There is,” Ran Shaojun replied.

Ran Qi’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Seeing his son’s reaction, Ran Shaojun’s expression softened slightly. “Not a bad issue,” he clarified.

“Huh?” Ran Qi was puzzled by his father’s cryptic response.

“The other day, you sent us a bowl of soup. I thought it tasted good and might work as a new flavor for nutritional supplements, so I brought some to the company.” Ran Shaojun paused before continuing, “During the testing of its components, the R&D team found a trace of an unknown active element. It’s highly reactive and shows energy responses. After multiple experiments, they confirmed it’s beneficial to the human body, promoting cellular activity and improving overall health.”

Ran Shaojun’s company, one of the largest private nutritional supplement manufacturers in the empire, had an R&D team whose expertise rivaled the Imperial Academy of Sciences. Their findings were highly credible.

“Really?” Ran Qi was stunned.

It was already surreal that <Magic Realm> had transformed from a PC game in his past life to a holographic game in this interstellar era. Now, even its rewards had miraculous properties? It was unbelievable.

“Of course. That’s why I need to know where these ingredients came from,” Ran Shaojun said. The absence of such ingredients in the market made him worry that Ran Qi might have been targeted. However, no matter how he speculated, he couldn’t have guessed these high-value ingredients came from a game. Moreover, given that the game seemed to have government backing, could this be part of a larger initiative?

Still processing his shock, Ran Qi suddenly remembered the system health reminder that had been delayed by an hour before he logged off.

“Dad, I just thought of something.”

“What is it?”

“The game I play—it has health monitoring…”

“Yes.” If not for the health monitoring feature of the game, he wouldn’t have turned a blind eye to Ran Qi buying the gaming pod.

“For the past few days, I’ve had to log off after being online for 24 hours, with the system reminding me right on time every day. But today, the health reminder was an hour later when I logged off.” Ran Qi scratched his head. “I don’t know if I’m just overthinking.”

“Whether it’s overthinking or not, a test will tell,” Ran Shaojun said decisively. “Go to the medical office immediately, and contact me after the test.”

“Okay.” Ran Qi was also eager to know the answer. Although his theory seemed far-fetched—how could eating something improve one’s physique?—considering he’d experienced something as unbelievable as transmigration. What wasn’t possible anymore?

Thinking back to the game’s promotional announcements about the enhancement agents before its beta release, the more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

Ran Qi quickly changed clothes and was about to head out. As soon as he opened the door, he found Gu Le standing there holding a bowl of strawberries, hand raised to ring the doorbell.

“Where are you going?” Gu Le looked confused.

“I’ll explain later. Come with me first!” Ran Qi, recalling that Gu Le had eaten just as much of the food as he had, snatched the strawberries from his hands and placed them on the table inside before dragging Gu Le downstairs.

“Hey, my strawberries!” Gu Le was dumbfounded as he was pulled along. “What are you doing? Where are we going?”

“To the medical office! You’ll understand when we get there!”

“Wait, are you feeling unwell? Let’s go quickly!” Gu Le, thinking something might be wrong with Ran Qi’s health, became even more anxious than him and took the lead in rushing to the medical office, their roles reversed.

It was class time, so the campus was relatively empty. The two arrived at the medical office quickly.

Ran Qi placed his personal terminal on the sensor at the entrance, and the door automatically opened as they walked in.

However, the school doctor’s office was empty, likely because the doctor was on a lunch break.

“The doctor isn’t here, probably taking a break. Hold on, I’ll send them a message,” Gu Le said, opening his terminal to contact the school doctor through the campus system.

“No need. The machine will do.” Ran Qi stopped him. “Keep an eye on the door for me. Don’t let anyone come in.”

The school doctor’s office had an intelligent diagnostic machine that could not only check for injuries but also measure physical and mental aptitude levels. Since aptitude could change over time with rigorous effort and training, regular testing was important, although most people lacked the perseverance for such arduous routines.

“Huh? Oh…” Gu Le, still baffled, stood by the door, completely unsure of what Ran Qi was up to.

Ran Qi used his terminal to activate the intelligent diagnostic machine.

“Year 3 Service Department, Class 2, Ran Qi. Student ID 3054188. Requesting a physical fitness evaluation. Please stand on the green circle,” the gentle electronic voice instructed.

Ran Qi stepped onto the green circle on the floor. The diagnostic machine emitted a red beam, scanning him from head to toe. Once the scan was completed, the results were displayed.

“Physical fitness evaluation complete. Congratulations, your fitness level has reached D-. It has improved since the last test. Keep up the good work.”

“D-?!” Gu Le, standing at the door, also heard the diagnostic machine’s announcement. His eyes widened in shock.

Even a half-level improvement was a significant achievement. Improving physical fitness required enhancements to cellular function, muscles, and bones, making advancements especially difficult at lower levels like E and higher levels like A.

But Ran Qi had actually achieved a half-level improvement?! How was that even possible?

Gu Le had never seen Ran Qi undergo any rigorous training. Recently, he’d been doing nothing but gaming…

“Are you secretly training behind my back?” Gu Le asked, glaring at Ran Qi as if accusing him of betrayal.

“Do I look like someone who trains?” Ran Qi rolled his eyes. Pulling Gu Le inside, he said, “You try it too.”

“No, no, I don’t need to…” Gu Le, a self-proclaimed lazybones, had never put any effort into training and thought taking the test would be a waste of time.

But under Ran Qi’s insistence, he reluctantly agreed. Deep down, he was convinced that his results wouldn’t show any improvement.

So when the results came in, he was utterly speechless.

“Physical fitness evaluation complete. Congratulations, your fitness level has reached D+. It has improved since the last test. Keep up the good work.”

“Your fitness level improved too!” Ran Qi patted his friend on the shoulder with a laugh.

“How is this even possible?” Gu Le looked like he was dreaming, circling the diagnostic machine to inspect it. “Is this machine broken?”

“Let’s go back first!” Ran Qi, dragging Gu Le along again, sent a message to his father on the way, reporting that his test results had indeed shown a half-level improvement.