Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Mental Power

Ling Mo woke up starving.

The moment she opened her eyes, she jolted—the pool that had been full last night was now down by a third.

Had her fever evaporated that much water?

She staggered upright in the pool. “That’s ridiculous…”

How high had her temperature climbed, exactly?

She climbed out, wiped the water from her hands, and nearly doubled over as hunger clenched her stomach. If she didn’t eat right now, she was going to collapse.

She pulled out two fist-sized meat buns from the pocket space and devoured them. The word “wolfing” didn’t even begin to cover it.

She had never been this hungry in her life. It felt like she could eat an entire cow.

By the time she’d eaten six of those massive buns, the hunger finally dulled.

She could keep eating, but her clothes were soaked. After a whole night in the pool, she felt waterlogged.

She dried herself off and changed into clean clothes, then laid out a full table of food and started eating again.

Her dining table was absurdly large—the kind where two people sitting across from each other would have to raise their voices just to talk.

She cleared the entire spread, then downed a one-liter bottle of milk. Only then did she lean back with a satisfied sigh.

The strangest part was that her stomach remained flat. Where did all that food even go?

“Right. The temperature.”

She grabbed the gun and checked.

36.2°C.

Normal.

Relief washed through her. So… had she awakened successfully?

If she had, what talent did she get?

She’d read enough novels to know there were plenty of useless abilities out there. Please don’t let hers be one of them.

As if in response, a familiar mechanical voice sounded near her ear.

“Congratulations, player. You have successfully awakened the mental power talent. The System notes that due to your special constitution, your mental power contains some pocket space attributes.”

“Because you are the first player to awaken successfully, and your awakening occurred within three days, the System has prepared additional rewards: an S-grade mental soothing solution, and a beginner grade shop.”

“You also have one chance to change your name. Use it carefully. The System mall is now open. The next support game will begin after all players finish awakening. Be ready at any time.”

Then the voice vanished.

No matter how Ling Mo tried to call back, there was no response.

In her hand, a bottle of pale purple liquid had appeared. The label was helpfully clear.

mental soothing solution:
Helps newly awakened mental power talent users calm down and pass through the initial agitation phase.

Mental power could become uncontrollable?

Ling Mo looked up.

Several packages were floating near the ceiling.

She tried to bring them down. Instead, they shot around like they’d sprouted minds of their own, swerving and darting even faster.

“Fine,” Ling Mo muttered. “I get it.”

She uncapped the bottle and drank.

Warmth spread through her, and the wild, prickling sensation in her head eased. The packages above slowly drifted down, obedient again under her control.

Ling Mo let out a long breath.

So mental soothing solution was a lifesaver for mental power awakeners.

If the System had a mall, it probably sold this stuff too.

She opened the System mall and searched. Sure enough, it was there—ranks from E-grade all the way up to A-grade.

She didn’t see an S-grade mental soothing solution, and she was about to wonder why when she saw the price of the A-grade version.

Her expression went blank.

A-grade cost 10,000 gold coins.

Even E-grade cost one gold coin—which equaled 100 silver coins.

Ling Mo had worked herself half-dead for three days and earned three silver coins.

She stared at the numbers, then closed the listing.

Yeah. She needed to figure out how to make money.

As the first person to awaken, she also had a level 1 shop.

A level 1 shop could list only ten items at a time—barely anything. But when she checked the requirements, she saw that ordinary players needed 1,000 gold coins just to get a shop.

And upgrading was even worse. Each level cost ten times more than the previous.

To upgrade to level 2, she’d have to pay 10,000 gold coins.

Ling Mo immediately decided a level 1 shop was perfectly fine. Ten items per batch was enough—as long as what she sold was eye-catching.

A prompt popped up.

“Please name your shop.”

After a moment, she entered: don’t miss out.

Then she used her one name-change opportunity and set her player name to Soy Sauce Drunk.

That name had absolutely nothing to do with her image as a cute girl, which was exactly the point.

She looked at her empty storefront but didn’t list anything yet. She had no idea how many others had awakened; even if there were any, it couldn’t be many.

Besides, what she had most of was food. Prices were rising, but people weren’t starving yet. Selling food wouldn’t stand out.

As for the interstellar food from Liang Chen Ranch, she decided not to touch it for now. She still didn’t know whether those dairy products were merely close to expiration or already spoiled. If someone got sick, it would ruin her shop’s reputation.

She signed for today’s deliveries and unpacked from morning into afternoon. While she worked, she also refilled the pool.

Dumping the water felt wasteful. Since she’d already used the pool, she decided it would be her private pool from now on. And she’d buy a few more.

By afternoon, the heat finally eased. Ling Mo planned to go out and stockpile supplies—her neighbors had been rushing in and out all day, and she didn’t want to stand out.

When she opened the door, two property staff were standing outside as if they’d been about to knock.

Behind them stood two young men with stern expressions and an air of upright authority—the kind of people who looked reliable at first glance.

Ling Mo took two steps back, wary. “Who are you?”

The property staff smiled politely. “The weather’s extremely hot right now. To prevent heatstroke going unnoticed, these two are here to check everyone’s temperature.”