"Try to study at home as much as possible in the future. Otherwise, your dad will worry."
"Dad, it's fine."
Ning Xi raised her fair hand and softly explained, "With Ye Fan around, you don't have to worry."
"..."
The smile on Ning Xiangtian's face disappeared, and the corners of his mouth twitched imperceptibly.
What he was worried about was Ye Fan…
This foolish daughter of his!
"Uncle, it's not like it was a decade or so ago. Things aren't as chaotic now; public safety is excellent. Plus, I'll be with Xiaoxi, and I'll protect her. You can rest assured."
Ye Fan keenly noticed the subtle changes in his future father-in-law's expression and couldn't help but inwardly chuckle.
"Ahem—"
Ning Xiangtian nodded slightly and changed the subject, "Xiaoxi, time to go home. Get in the car."
"Okay."
Ning Xi quickly blinked at Ye Fan and waved her hand, "Bye."
"Bye."
Watching the car drive into the residential area, Ye Fan's lips curled into a smile.
He could feel that Ning Xiangtian's attitude toward him had subtly shifted and was no longer as overbearing as before.
Although he didn't know the exact reason, it was undoubtedly a good thing.
He hailed a cab and went home.
After sitting on the couch for nearly half an hour, Ye Fan closed his eyes and rested to clear his mind.
A full day of intensive reading had taken a significant toll on his eyes and mental energy.
He realized something—his current intelligence level was only at level four. Even with the skill Inspired Thinking, reading for an hour straight left him feeling fatigued. What would it be like at level five or six intelligence?
As this thought crossed his mind, Ye Fan slowly opened his eyes and asked in his heart, "System, after using the skill Inspired Thinking, my eyes and mind seem unable to handle it. Is there any way to fix this?"
System: "Of course. The host can upgrade stamina. Increasing your stamina level will improve your overall physical fitness, including mental endurance."
"If the stamina and intelligence levels match, the host won't experience this issue anymore."
Ye Fan nodded in sudden realization.
So it was because his stamina level was too low. Well, that was easy to fix.
With that thought, he pulled up his attribute panel in his mind.
[Host]: Ye Fan
[Knowledge]: Level 4 (12/10,000)
[Intelligence]: Level 4 (13/10,000)
[Stamina]: Level 3 (1/2,000)
[Medical Skills]: Level 3 (0/2,000)
[Merit Points]: 80
[Experience Points]: 4,374
Thanks to an afternoon of reading, the Knowledge stat successfully reached level four.
This held significant meaning for Ye Fan.
This time, he hadn't used a single experience point for the upgrade. It was entirely due to passively accumulated experience from his regular reading, which allowed him to grind his way from level three to level four.
A cause for celebration!
Moreover, ever since acquiring the Inspired Thinking skill, his experience gain efficiency had multiplied several times over.
Ye Fan now felt he could describe himself as "filthy rich."
Low stamina level?
Then just upgrade it!
Looking at the experience points he had saved up over the past week, Ye Fan grinned.
"Upgrade stamina."
System: "Consuming 2,000 experience points, stamina has been successfully upgraded to level four."
As the system's sweet voice rang out, Ye Fan immediately felt a change in his body.
A warm current appeared out of nowhere, flowing through his body, starting from his abdomen and spreading to every part of him.
The warmth felt comforting, cozy, and pleasant.
This sensation lasted for less than a minute when an unsettling sound echoed in the living room.
"Crack-crack-crack—"
"Crack-crack-crack—"
…
This creepy sound continued for nearly ten minutes before it gradually subsided.
"Phew—"
Ye Fan slowly opened his eyes and moved his now lighter body, feeling a wave of appreciation.
Among the four primary abilities, stamina upgrades had the most dramatic effects.
At the same time, the results were the best. Intelligence followed, while upgrading medical skills merely caused medical knowledge to appear out of nowhere in his mind. Upgrading knowledge, on the other hand, had no tangible sensation at all.
When his knowledge stat leveled up to four that afternoon, he hadn't even noticed. The passive accumulation of experience triggered an automatic upgrade, so the system hadn't bothered notifying him.
At the time, he had even thought to himself, This upgrade was less noticeable than a fart.
[Host]: Ye Fan
[Knowledge]: Level 4 (12/10,000)
[Intelligence]: Level 4 (13/10,000)
[Stamina]: Level 4 (1/2,000)
[Medical Skills]: Level 3 (0/2,000)
[Merit Points]: 80
[Experience Points]: 2,374
Looking at the attribute panel, Ye Fan nodded in satisfaction.
However, seeing that only Medical Skills remained at level three made his OCD flare up. He had the urge to upgrade it to level four as well.
The moment this thought surfaced, it startled him so much that he quickly closed the attribute panel, forcibly suppressing the impulse.
In the current situation, upgrading medical skills was unnecessary.
In the past, he had been eager to improve his medical skills because he was worried about his mother's health. But now that she had consumed the Physical Fruit, her body's overall condition had returned to normal, and his worries had vanished.
Level three or level four? It made no real difference.
So, it was better to save experience points to upgrade intelligence and stamina.
Although his experience gain efficiency had significantly increased, it wasn't yet at the level where he could squander it.
Good steel should be used on the blade's edge.
And intelligence was the sharpest blade!
"Grumble-grumble…"
The protests from his stomach reminded Ye Fan of what he needed to do next. As he prepared to head to the kitchen to make something to eat, a foul stench suddenly wafted into his nose.
Sniffing, Ye Fan's gaze slowly fell on his arm.
The skin on his arm had turned slightly black, as if coated with a thin layer of sludge. The foul smell emanated from this black substance.
Earlier, he had been too focused on experiencing the changes from the stamina upgrade to notice. Thanks to having read so many web novels in his past life, he guessed that this foul-smelling black substance was the impurities expelled from his body during the physical evolution.
Smiling wryly, he patted his stomach.
"Hang in there, buddy. Let's shower first."
The shower took half an hour. Ye Fan scrubbed himself seven or eight times and nearly peeled off a layer of skin before the stench finally disappeared.
Donning a bathrobe, he stepped out of the bathroom, water dripping from the tips of his hair. His sunny, handsome features combined with his muscular physique created a striking visual impact.
After filling his stomach, Ye Fan entered the bedroom and stood before the mirror. Looking at his reflection, his brows furrowed slightly.
His skin had always been quite fair, but after this stamina upgrade, it had become at least a shade lighter.
This change left Ye Fan somewhat dissatisfied.
A guy didn't need skin this pale—it wasn't like he was a girl.
"Looks like I'll need to spend more time in the sun from now on!"