The others turned. Belle’s mouth actually dropped open. Jordan blinked repeatedly like his eyes were malfunctioning. Naomi just stared. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"Sorry I’m late." I dropped my bag at my feet, already pulling off my jacket. "Lost track of time."

Belle’s eyes snapped to me. Then they went wide. "What the hell happened to you?"

I could see her cataloging the changes. The way my training shirt actually fit now instead of hanging off my frame. The visible definition in my arms and shoulders where there’d only been soft bulk before. My face had lost enough fat that my jawline was visible, and the softness around my neck had tightened into something closer to actual muscle.

"Good night’s sleep?" I tried.

"Bullshit." Jordan was staring too, his usual half-lidded boredom replaced by something like genuine confusion. "You look completely different. Like a different person."

"Been working out."

"For what, ten years overnight?" Belle walked a circle around me like she was appraising livestock. "Your face changed. Your shoulders changed." She reached out and poked my bicep, her finger meeting resistance instead of yielding flesh. "You’re solid."

I glanced at Naomi, who hadn’t said anything yet. She was just watching me with this careful, unreadable look on her face. Not suspicious, exactly. Just very, very attentive.

Misato saved me by clearing her throat. "Whatever miracle diet Monroe’s on, you can interrogate him about it after training. We’re burning daylight."

She sent us to the obstacle course first. That’s when I learned that while my body had upgraded overnight, my brain hadn’t gotten the memo. I had power I didn’t know how to use yet.

My first jump went twice as high as I intended and I nearly overshot the platform. When I pivoted for the rope climb, I turned too hard and stumbled.

By the wall traverse, I’d face-planted once and nearly yanked a climbing hold clean off the wall with my new grip strength.

Naomi found me during our water break, pink eyes steady on my face. "Your body’s different," she said quietly. "You need to recalibrate."

I nodded, gulping water. "It happened fast."

"I can see that." Her eyes traveled over me again, a faint blush coloring her cheeks. "You look... good."

"Just good?"

"Don’t push your luck."

The second round went better. I adjusted my movements, recalibrated my expectations. By the third run, I was using my new strength effectively.

Belle timed me on the final run. When I finished, she glanced at her stopwatch and frowned.

"Two minutes, twelve seconds."

"Is that bad?"

"It’s twenty seconds faster than yesterday." She looked up at me, blue eyes narrowed. "What did you do, Jace?"

"Told you. Been working out."

"With what, super soldier serum?" Jordan interjected.

I shrugged. "Overclock, remember? Maybe the side effect massively sped up my metabolism to calibrate."

That was true, technically. The system didn’t cap my growth. It just usually progressed more gradually unless I dumped eighteen hundred points into a direct upgrade.

Misato had us running formation drills for another hour before finally releasing us. As we packed up, Belle sidled next to me, lowering her voice.

"Nice try with the Overclock excuse. What really happened?"

"Exactly what I said."

"Fine, keep your secrets." She leaned closer, her tone shifting. "But fair warning - your little transformation has caught attention."

"Whose?"

"Everyone’s." She nodded toward a group of Obsidian students watching from the sidelines. "Word travels fast when the fat lottery kid suddenly gets a glow-up."

"I wasn’t fat."

"You were soft. Now you’re not." Her fingers brushed my arm again. "We on for tonight?"

Tonight. Right. Belle had scheduled an extraction session in the sanctum. Points and a buff before Monday’s classes.

"Yeah, we’re on."

"Good." She grabbed her bag. "Nine o’clock. Don’t be late."

As she walked away, I caught Naomi watching us. She didn’t look upset - more contemplative. When our eyes met, she gave me a small smile before heading off with Jordan.

I gathered my things slowly, testing the new sensations in my body. Everything felt lighter. Sharper. More immediate. Even colors seemed more vibrant, though that might have been my imagination.

One brutal payment, and I’d jumped from lottery charity case to looking like I actually belonged here.

I checked the system interface again.

PHYSICAL STATS

Strength [C] ▰▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱ (1/10)

Endurance [D] ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱ (8/10)

Agility [E] ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱▱ (7/10)

C-rank strength. Only nine more segments to climb before B-rank. And then A. And then...

I closed the interface and smiled. The milk vampire was leveling up.

My phone buzzed with a text from Aurora: Heard rumors about your makeover. Picture or it didn’t happen.

I took the photo and fired it off.

Her response came in fragments. Those three typing dots blinked on, vanished, came back.

Holy shit. Dinner tonight. My place. 7pm. Non-negotiable.

Can’t. Training with Belle at 9.

Then 6pm. You have milk and I want some.

My face heated. Aurora was never subtle. Since our first night together, she’d been direct about what she wanted and when she wanted it. The buff she got from my extraction made her abilities significantly stronger, and she’d leveraged that into sponsorship offers from guilds looking for talent.

6pm works. Send the address.

She sent location details and a single emoji - the milk bottle.

I shoved my phone in my pocket and walked toward my apartment. Eyes followed me. Students who’d walked past the fat lottery kid like I was furniture now paused mid-conversation to track my movement.

C-rank strength. Visible muscle definition. A jawline that hadn’t been buried under extra weight three weeks ago. The changes were too obvious to ignore.

Belle had already locked in another session for tomorrow. Aurora wanted me tonight. And Naomi kept staring when she thought I wasn’t looking, then apologizing when our eyes met.

Being invisible was easier. Safer. Nobody expected anything from the bottom-tier nobody.

Now? Female students sized me up differently. Male students watched with suspicion or outright hostility.

Not to mention the strangers whose gazes lingered too long.

I’d become a target of a different kind.

And I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.