Being an otaku in the world of American comics

#445 - Realistic transition!

Although Tony Stark wasn't supposed to visit until tomorrow, Sam and the others were driven back to Liang Yue's manor that afternoon.

Except for Gwen.

As the daughter of the New York Police Commissioner, and a socialite in American high society, she had been taught strict etiquette from a young age.

The idea of casually spending the night at a male classmate's house simply didn't align with her long-held principles.

Even with other classmates present, she couldn't get approval from Mr. and Mrs. Stacy.

Of course, the truth was that only Commissioner Stacy was firmly opposed; Gwen herself, and even her mother who chimed in during the phone call, expressed agreement with the idea of staying over.

Liang Yue overheard this information while Gwen was on the phone, thanks to his extraordinary hearing...

In any case, the matter was settled.

He drove Peter, Sam, Yamamoto Naiko, and Peter and Sam's club friends, the Chinese-American fatty Ned and the slightly neurotic Leo, back home.

(Chinese-American fatty Ned, from the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies; the neurotic Leo, from Transformers 2, was Sam's college roommate who created the website in the dorm and actively recruited Sam...)

After a nearly two-hour drive, it was just around sunset.

Inside the manor, the lights were just coming on, and under the setting sun's glow, the castle seemed to be coated with a layer of elegant color, like a serene classical painting.

To make the most of this scenery, Liang Yue first took everyone on a brief tour before retrieving a large quantity of high-quality beef, lamb, chicken, fish, fruits, and vegetables from the kitchen, inviting them to join him for a barbecue feast.

With the help of alcohol, everyone naturally enjoyed themselves, and the atmosphere was quite harmonious and lively.

...

In the blink of an eye, it was the next morning...

Liang Yue, unusually, didn't enter the stronghold world, but instead completed his meditation directly in his bedroom.

Then, around five o'clock in the morning, as he was doing his morning exercises on the manor's lawn, his classmates were already getting out of bed one after another.

They began to actively participate in their volunteer work preparations.

Actually, there wasn't much to prepare.

High-quality ingredients, eggs, desserts, noodles, and the like were readily available in the stronghold world, and once made, they would stay fresh forever.

Various Chinese-style beef bone broth, consommé, braising sauces, and other necessary ingredients had been simmering for a long time, with the magma stove never going out.

The ultimate purpose of Liang Yue inviting these classmates to his home was simply to temporarily add some life to his vast manor.

In the stronghold world, the women were still busy running dungeons, striving to increase their respective strengths.

After three days of effort, Alwyn, Senior Saeko, Nanko, Hinata, and Little Kong's main assault team had successfully completed the Nightmare difficulty dungeon in Diablo 2.

Unexpectedly, after clearing the dungeon, the system rewards this time didn't need Liang Yue to draw on their behalf, as before.

Because this time, the reward didn't seem to be a lottery, but a more abstract form of transformation.

Specifically, it made the originally rigid skill expressions in the skill trees of Alwyn, Hinata, and others become more free.

In the system's words, it was to transition their abilities from the game dungeon to the real Diablo 2 game system!

Although the power was considerable, it lacked freedom.

After receiving this reward, when launching 'Jab' again, it was no longer necessary to follow any fixed routines.

Still three consecutive jabs, but now Alwyn and the others could launch the skill in a more personalized way.

Lying down, squatting, sliding, or even using it mid-air while jumping, was all possible!

In addition, according to Nanko, when using some lower-level physical skills, she seemed to be able to purposefully attach her martial arts qi and skills from other systems to the skill, forming a specific composite attack mode!

This was definitely great news for everyone!

Therefore, even though Hinata and the others had just cleared the Nightmare difficulty dungeon a few days ago, they once again erupted with surging enthusiasm due to the addition of this system reward.

Almost without stopping, they threw themselves into the Hell difficulty level conquest.

In comparison, the second team consisting of the Takashiro mother and daughter, Teacher Shizuka, Nana, Yang Buhui, Xiao Zhao, Rachel, and others also felt ashamed and then courageous after learning about this reward.

Sweeping away their previous negativity and laziness, they regrouped and threw themselves into another conquest with high spirits...

In contrast, although Liang Yue also yearned for the realistic Diablo 2 skills, he wasn't in a hurry.

His greatest wish at this time was to speed up the time and strive to digest and integrate the part of the development potential that had emerged in his current realm, in order to lay a solid foundation for the future.

This second dungeon clearing reward from the system was more like an additional ability endowment for him.

Liang Yue, who hadn't had time to digest his own achievements, would undoubtedly fall into an even more chaotic situation if he rashly opened up another series of abilities.

...

Around seven o'clock in the morning, Liang Yue finally finished his morning exercises, returned home covered in sweat.

Peter, Sam, Ned, and Leo had already finished a hearty breakfast under the leadership of their deskmate, Yamamoto Naiko.

With the help of the rich ingredients that Liang Yue brought out from the stronghold world, the breakfast items seemed exceptionally diverse, such as tempura, vegetable miso soup, Japanese hot pot, sushi, etc., which looked very high-end.

However, generally speaking, it was still the same routine as the meals usually made by Senior Saeko, Yuriko, and others.

Seeing this, Liang Yue, not wanting to disappoint his little deskmate's kindness, hurriedly went back to his room to take a shower, took care of his personal hygiene, and then rushed back to join Peter and the others, eagerly enjoying the delicacies on the table.

Soon, amidst everyone's wolfing down and Naiko's sense of accomplishment, the full table of Japanese cuisine was devoured, leaving only scattered soup and water.

However, before the few people at the table, their bellies round from eating, had time to digest for a while.

A faint honk of a car horn suddenly sounded in the distance in Liang Yue's ears.

Immediately afterward, the intelligent butler, disguised as the AI Xiao Wu, announced the arrival of guests.

Therefore, Liang Yue led everyone at the table, burping, to the door to greet them.