Yuan Lin woke up the next morning to a sensation he wasn't used to: a pleasant muscle ache.
It wasn't the deep, burning pain he had felt after using the forced enhancement. It was more like the ache you feel after a long day of hard exercise. There were a few scratches on his arms and a faint bruise on his ribs, but underneath it all, there was a sense of satisfaction. It was an earned pain.
He got out of bed, feeling a vitality he hadn't felt before. He looked at the mental interface before him. His cultivation progress was still at the laughable number the System had displayed: [Cultivation progress: 0.0003%]. But he wasn't laughing at it anymore. He had seen what that tiny fraction of power could do.
"Alright", he thought as he headed to the kitchen. `"The plan is simple. By day, I'm Yuan Lin, the IT support guy. By night, I'm the Lord of Chaos, King of the Junkyard."`
But his perfect plan hit its first snag when he looked at his clothes lying on the floor. His pants were slightly torn at the knee, and his shirt was stained with dirt.
"I can't go to my private 'restaurant' in these clothes," he muttered to himself. "I need... a work uniform."
The idea made him smile. He wasn't buying new clothes because he wanted to look good, but because he needed a suitable uniform for his new nightly profession.
That afternoon, he found himself in the men's clothing section of a cheap department store. He was on a mission. He found what he was looking for in the workwear and hiking section. He chose a pair of black cargo pants, a black hoodie, and steel-toed work boots.
As he was paying for his purchases, the cashier gave him a strange look.
"Are you planning a camping trip somewhere dangerous?" she asked, passing the clothes over the scanner.
Yuan Lin looked at her with a completely straight face. "Something like that. You could say it's... urban exploration and rare resource gathering."
The girl blinked, then shrugged. "Well, good luck with that."
He returned to his apartment feeling like a secret agent who had just returned from a successful mission. He laid his new clothes on the bed. This was his new [Work Uniform]. He felt the gravity of the situation more now.
As he was contemplating his new uniform, the mental interface flashed in his vision.
It was a message from Queen Xue. Her messages always made his heart beat a little faster with anxiety.
[[Dark Fairy Queen Xue]: My Lord, I have sensed a change in your aura over the past two days. It has become more... vital. More... predatory. It is a very attractive change.]
Yuan Lin felt cold sweat form on his forehead. Could she feel him? Could she sense that minuscule increase in his power from dimensions away? He had to respond carefully.
[[Lord of Eternal Chaos]: A keen observation, Xue.]
Then, he decided to use the same tactic that had worked for him before: use the truth and wrap it in an epic lie.
[[Lord of Eternal Chaos]: One must stretch their claws from time to time. I was merely... purging some vile pests that had invaded my domain of solitude. Trivial matters not worth mentioning.]
Her reply came quickly, as if she had been waiting.
[[Dark Fairy Queen Xue]: 'Pests,' my Lord? How delightful. I hope you made them suffer. Tell me, what kind of pests summoned the personal attention of the Lord of Chaos?]
She was testing him. Fishing for details. He looked at the scratches on his arm and remembered the glowing yellow eyes of the dogs.
[[Lord of Eternal Chaos]: They were mindless beasts. Driven by primal hunger, with no concept of hierarchy or respect. They have been... disciplined.]
There was a silence in the chat for a few long seconds, then came her final reply.
[[Dark Fairy Queen Xue]: Ah, a lesson in discipline. How fitting. It seems your solitude is proving to be quite... eventful. I look forward to hearing more about your... pest control efforts.]
The message vanished, but its impact remained.
Yuan Lin stared into space, feeling a shiver. He had managed to deceive her again, but he realized that every action he took, no matter how small in his world, created ripples that reached them. She was watching, analyzing, and waiting.
He looked at his new black clothes lying on the bed. They were no longer just clothes. They were another mask, another identity. The identity of the man who goes out in the middle of the night to hunt for energy among the world's junk.
He put on the heavy boots, then the hoodie, and pulled the hood over his head. He looked at his reflection in the dark window of his room. He no longer saw the face of a tired IT support guy. He saw a shadow, someone preparing to go out into the dark.
"Time to go to work," he thought, and he wasn't referring to his office job at all.