Akashi, later that day, sat in his new room.
The police usually provided dorms for their officers, especially those who came from far lands or had distant homes. So, he didn't have any trouble.
'500k Yuan from my house. 1.5 million from Boba. Too much money that I can easily launder,' he thought to himself, before laying down on his bed and opening a can of beer.
Believe it or not, he wasn't drinking. He was training his Poison Resistance skill, as bending poisonous gas seemed to be a plus for Airbending.
Currently, he was reflecting on the last few days and thinking about the next step.
He had leveled up after defeating Boba, gaining two levels in a row and earning 4 attribute points and 2 skill points.
'I have shitty stamina, shitty strength, and shitty everything.'
'The problem is, the higher my level gets, the more difficult leveling up becomes.'
'And for my stats, increasing attribute points through training follows the same logic.'
'It's easier to level them up earlier.'
'No. It's necessary. Because if I don't, I'd be wasting precious attribute points.'
His stamina and strength were at 2.
When his agility was about 6, it took him 15 days to raise it by one point, following normal human progress.
As for his stamina and strength at 2, it would be easier to improve them.
If he managed to get both to 4, he would have saved two levels.
'I'm going against Tarrlok with a crazy plan, but it's not one I should rush. It's better to have a couple of weeks of training.'
As a man from the modern era, he had access to research about fitness, physique, and even nutrition. He knew better how to train.
'And this is the Avatar world. I believe human bodies here are specifically stronger,'
he thought as he grabbed a small notebook and wrote a program for himself.
'Aim for 4000+. HIIT twice a day, and low volume high weight resistance training for strength.'
As for skill levels… it was obvious he would invest all his points into his highest skill.
[Ding! Airbending up to level 8]
[Name: Akashi.
Level: 7
Class: Airbender.
Skill Points: 0
Attributes Points: 4
Skill Trees
Airbending — level 8
Martial Arts — level 4
Skills
Poison Resistance — level 3
Driving — level 5
Attributes
Wisdom — 4
Strength — 2
Vitality — 2
Agility — 11
Stamina — 2
HP: 100/100
Chi: 100/100
Stamina: 100/100]
-x-X-x-
For the next two weeks, Akashi kept a low profile as much as possible.
And by that, he meant going to another bank and requesting a loan to open a coffee shop next to the police station, where he argued it would be more profitable to work near people who need to wake up. Of course, donuts and bakery items would be for profit. Then, have some people work for him, and he'd manage it only during his free time.
The loan was approved, and Akashi rented a shop, leaving it under construction for a week.
The real purpose was laundering all the money he had.
Through fake reports, he might be able to justify having more than a million yuan and invest it where it mattered—buying farmland for the coming years.
As for acting low profile, he was doing his job properly with no exaggerations.
In two weeks, he solved a case. There was a gang trafficking poor girls from other nations and forcing them into prostitution.
Using his experience from his previous life and following leads and patterns other officers didn't know about.
For example, here, his colleagues couldn't tell that some accounting books in certain stores were suspicious, especially if they were profitable and logical.
If these stores were near a triad operation center, it would probably lead to crime. Akashi had been with the triads, and these guys never let a profitable business thrive without forcing protection on it and collecting very high tax rates, which made having a business no better than working for the government.
When Akashi wasn't working, he did the only thing he could.
High-intensity interval workouts. Once in the morning, once in the evening.
It was a very exhausting training style.
But it was better than spending many hours running to build stamina, as it saved him a lot of time.
And he had to admit it was very mentally and physically demanding—some days, he woke up almost crippled.
Fortunately, every police department had a waterbender healer, and Akashi had been visiting the nurse a bit too much lately, asking her to heal him.
After around 10 days of his training regime, Rakasha, the nurse, said to Akashi just after healing him with water:
"Akashi, I know you have a crush on me. But I can't accept your feelings." She said, "I have a husband and a kid."
"What? No." Akashi shook his head.
"I know you've been staring at my ass," she said.
Well… every man does that, no?
It's not his fault she liked to bend over and pick things up.
She added, "Every day for ten days. Although it's creepy, it's quite admirable. Not many guys have guts. I'm pretty sure if you hang around other places, you'll find someone you like, and she'll like you back."
Akashi put his hand on his forehead, not believing he got rejected by a girl he didn't even ask out. More than that, she labeled him a creep.
"I'm just working out, and I get very sore," Akashi admitted.
"Well, take a break, like every human does." She put her hand on his back, pushing him to the exit door.
"Okay." He said, walking out.
That night, Akashi didn't sleep well, overthinking if she believed him or thought he was a creep using an excuse.
He even considered going to a private clinic.
Who needs a girlfriend when they have enemies anyway?
-x-X-x-
By the end of the two weeks, Akashi had gained some additional attribute points, and it was satisfactory.
[Name: Akashi.
Level: 7
Class: Airbender.
Skill Points: 0
Attributes Points: 4
***Skill Trees***
Airbending — level 8
Martial Arts — level 4
***Skills***
Poison Resistance — level 3
Driving — level 5
***Attributes***
Wisdom — 4
Strength — 4
Vitality — 3
Agility — 11
Stamina — 5
***
HP: 150/150
Chi: 100/100
Stamina: 250/250]
His strength increased by two points, vitality by one, stamina by three. His stamina bar more than doubled. Not only that, but his vitality stat helped him recover both stamina and HP faster. Every stat seemed important.
Other than that, Akashi slowed down on work, having solved two cases in his first month on the field. He focused more on his side business, hiring a couple of baristas, a baker, and a cashier. Akashi's only job was accountant and manager, which he did after work hours.
During non-working hours, some employees replaced him. He knew there would be some employee theft, but Akashi let them get away with small thefts, as long as it didn't harm profits much.
The real purpose was laundering the money he had, which was far more than what he could gain from the business. But other than that, it seemed a quite profitable business, as mostly police officers hung around there, knowing the place was his.
No triad would dare extort money from here unless they wanted to go to jail. Currently, Akashi was in his shop, staying there for the night, filling the accounting books and faking bills to increase the profits to what seemed like 10 times actual.
"Look at these cute bastards, taking 50 yuan from me, thinking I wouldn't notice. But since the profit is 500 today, I'll let it slide." He muttered to himself. "Anyway, let them enjoy it while they can. Soon, I'll force the receipts on the cashier and see how big their balls are." He closed the accounting book and went to the corner, grabbing a board.
He revised his plan for Tarrlok. Akashi had to admit—Tarrlok was a very smart man. He never left any trail leading to him, and anything found on him led to a dead end. As expected from the son of a former organized crime tycoon.
But you know, If you're certain someone is doing something, and there's no evidence, there are many ways to expose them.
Akashi could afford one.