~ Ayano's Pov, 3 weeks later... ~
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'Just... one more kilometer left...'
My legs burned, my breath came in sharp, ragged bursts, and I could feel my vision blurring at the edges at times—but I kept myself moving.
It had been three weeks of absolute hell. Three weeks of pushing my body past its limits every single day. And yet, despite all the pain, all the exhaustion, I felt stronger. Faster.
'This… this is actually working.'
I forced my aching legs to carry me forward, each step hitting the pavement with a rhythm now. The air was cool against my sweat-drenched skin, but my body felt like it was on fire, literally. If I didn't know it then, I knew it now.
The system had set these workouts to push me to my absolutes each and every day...
When I had started with just 50 push-ups, crunches, and sit-ups a day. Now, I was doing 2000of each. The daily increase of ten had piled up fast, with the increments increasing the second, third and final week... And my runs? I started at two kilometers. Now, I was running 50.
I never thought I'd push myself this far, but here I was... And I wasn't even done yet.
As I neared the end of my run, I clenched my fists, pushing through the last burst of exhaustion I had accumulated. My body was begging me to stop, but my mind refused.
'One more step. One more meter. One more kilometer.'
And then—finally—I was done.
'D-Damn...' I felt like a bag of lead... I essentially collapsed onto one of the nearby benches, practically gulping down air like I'd been drowning. My heartbeat pounded in my ears, but underneath the exhaustion, a deep sense of satisfaction settled in me...
When I turned, I could see the sun setting in front of me... 'Well, it looks like I've found my new viewing spot, huh...' I smiled to myself. I feel like I've changed for the past month, like my mentality was actually getting tougher; but, maybe that was just all in my head.
Regardless, I know I've gotten stronger. And I had a feeling… I was going to need this strength soon. Yet, I for some odd reason... I still couldn't feel the effects of that strength.
PING!!!
"Well, speak of the devil..." I heard the system pop up in my head, and then flashing in my face...
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{GROWTH QUEST: Head home and get your A-game on! You're super weak, and you won't survive if you are, so it's time to get strong! (CLAIMED)
Tasks;
2000 / 2000 pushups
2000 / 2000 Crunches
2000 / 2000 Squats
50 / 50 kilometer run
REWARD: +250 to all stats, +5000 HP, +1000 EP, +1 x Recovery Potion, +1 Golden Key +1 Silver Key and 2 Bronze Keys.}
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"What, the-" Before I could finish my own sentence, I saw extremely feint sparks of blue electricity flowing around me, before settling again and disappearing...
"Umm... Am, I supposed to feel any different here, or...?" I legit felt no different than before that random show of fireworks, the only thing I was still feeling, was the sheer pain after my workout a few minutes ago...
SHIINNG!!
Before I knew it, another spark of light popped up right in front of me, the largest one I've seen so far too. After a few seconds, I could see a bundle of keys, with the 2 bronze, 1 silver and the golden key...
After that, I even received a small red looking vial with them too...
I scratched my head for a second, 'Alright, what does the Golden key do now?' I stared at it for a second to see it's description, saying 'The golden key gives the user powerful active skills that consume energy in return.'
So this means I'll be getting an actual skill-skill this time? The thought of that kind of excites me, but... What if the system gave me something absolute retarded? I might as well not think about that. Moving on the this potion thing...
It says, 'The recovery potion recovers all the user's stamina, energy and health when consumed.'
'Isn't this nifty... Definitely gonna save the potion then, just in case if I need it. But... I'll definitely make use the golden key, and the silver one.'
Just like before, I held the golden key, and pushed it into the keyhole... And just like last time, the cards shuffled together, then after a few, it landed on a weird looking one, it kind of looked like an eye...
I received it, reading it's description... 'Charge shot: Start by gathering energy with your eyes closed. In proportion with time. You will be able to launch a single powerful strike that cannot be avoided... Cost: 200 EP.'
When I looked lower, it showed it's effect, '*Effect: Can only be activated during battle.*'
That, kind of sucks... I don't know how powerful this thing could be, but going based off what the system calls slight, I'd wager this thing could be pretty powerful in the right conditions, I think...
Next off, with the silver key... Did the same thing as the golden one, this time, I got a passive called, recovery, which read, 'During sleep. The body's recovery rate increases tremendously.'
'Didn't I have something like this already...?'
"Well, might as well test it, right? It's around 6 PM, I'll give myself an hour before I do anything else, it's a good way to test it out too..."
With all that said, I decided to finally doze off for a bit...
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'Yawn~*'
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I noticed was how... light I felt. The soreness that had practically paralyzed me earlier? Gone. The exhaustion that made me feel like my body was weighed down by literal lead? Completely erased.
'This... This is insane...' Checking the time, I realized that it was just an hour that had passed me by, yet, I felt like I could do what I did today again. I usually took an hour or so to myself to rest my body, but even then, I still felt sore over all over but to a lesser extent, but this? I felt like I've been reborn.
'Well, it's certainly powerful, that's for sure...'
I sat up slowly, testing my limbs to make sure I wasn't going crazy... And to my surprise, there was no stiffness, not even a inch of pain—just a sense of complete and total recovery.
"Whoa..." I flexed my fingers, rolled my neck, even stretched my legs out a bit. It was like I hadn't even worked out today. No, scratch that—it was like my body had been fully optimized, like it had essentially adapted to the training instead of just recovering from it...
The new ability actually worked. And it worked ridiculously well.
"Okay, this is definitely somethin' else..." I couldn't stop the grin from forming on my face. A full recovery in just an hour? If this worked every time I slept, I could train way harder than before and still be fresh the next day.
Standing up, I gave myself one last stretch to be sure... "Alright, it's time to head back home."
My stomach growled, reminding me that recovery or not, I still needed food... And after burning through what felt like a million calories today, I deserved to eat something real good. Maybe a few bacon sand witches will do...
I jumped a bit to get myself a little pumped for the run back since I was pretty far away.
As I started to run-
Fwish~
"WHOAH!!!!"
The moment my foot hit the ground, I felt a sudden surge—no, an explosion—of force propel me forward. My body shot ahead like a bullet, the scenery around me blurring as if I'd just been yanked into hyper speed.
"Wha—?!" My brain barely had time to process what was happening before my instincts kicked in. I stumbled, nearly tripping over my own legs as I struggled to adjust to the absurd acceleration.
I was fast. Way faster than before. But that stat jump didn't make me feel any different, so how is this even so powerful? I'm way faster than I should be...
My heart was pounding, not from exhaustion this time, but from pure adrenaline. I was fighting to even stay upright. Every stride sent me meters ahead in an instant, my feet were barely touching the pavement before I was already moving forward again.
"This—This ain't normal!" I yelled, my voice barely catching up to me as the wind roared in my ears.
Was this because of the stat boost from the growth quest? Did my body just now adjust to the increase or something?
I grit my teeth and forced myself to lean into the motion, trying to control the speed rather than let it control me, and it's hard. After a few more wild seconds, I started getting the hang of it. My movements became smoother, my steps more controlled.
And then? I smiled, who wouldn't?
If this was my new normal, then I could really work with this.
I pushed forward, this time embracing the speed rather than fighting it. The run back home, which should've taken at least an hour, now felt like a mere few minutes. Buildings and streetlights were essentially zipping right past me, plus the cool night air rushing against my skin while I was covering ground at an insane pace, it was great...
Before I knew it, I was already at my block...
SCREECH~~~
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'Guess these shoes are done for...' I skidded to a stop in front of my house, nearly losing my balance as I overestimated my own momentum. My breath was steady, my body still felt super fresh, and my legs? Not even remotely sore either.
I blinked. Then I found myself laughing... I just covered about 10 miles in a sub 20 minute run... Isn't that insane? I'm sure that was well beyond human standards too, right? It had to be...
"Alright..." Looks, like I'm still catching up to what just happened. "Isn't this actually nuts?"
'Status!'
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Name: Ayano Keiji
Class: The Little Chosen One
Height: 172 cm
Age: 17
Health: 6000 / 6000 [50000 / 50000]
Energy: 1100 / 1100 [10000 / 10000]
Strength: 251 / 1000
Defense: 251 / 1000
Agility: 251 / 1000
Spirit: 251 / 1000
Passive Skills;
1. Martial-Arts-Mastery
2. Recovery
Skills; Charge Shot - Cost: 200 Energy
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Boy is it fun to see my stats grow... This... This is a good thing... Now, I just need to work on my Aikido before bed, that should be a good last thing to do.
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~ Ayano's Pov, the next day... ~
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I stepped in my classroom, as usual, then seeing Renji do what he does best, talk a lot.
When I made my to sit next to him, he looked at me weirdly...
"Is... there something wrong with me?" He looked at me as if I were an alien from mars, or Jupiter, didn't matter.
"That voice... No way... Wait... Keiji, is... is that you?"
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END