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n

nAlex descended the tree and mentally prepared himself for his first training session in this new world.

nThe God had told Alex that he should destroy his body as thoroughly as possible with training and then use meditation to enhance his body with Mana.

nNothing out of the ordinary would happen if someone told something like this to a newbie regarding sports.

nWhy?

nBecause if someone didn’t have enough experience in physical exercise, their willpower and resistance to physical pain wouldn’t be strong enough to really damage their muscles.

nWhen a newbie regarding sports trained until they couldn’t anymore, their muscles wouldn’t receive too much damage since the body’s self-preservation instinct kicked in. The person would feel like they couldn’t continue, but someone that had trained themselves for longer could go further.

nAlex was a bit apprehensive about the God’s words.

nAlex had trained his body to such a degree that he had even managed to join the biggest MMA organization in the world.

nIt wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that Alex had once had a body that was normally only seen on TV, and, well, it made sense. After all, Alex’s fights had also been broadcast on TV.

nBecause of that, if Alex decided to go all-out with his training, he had the willpower to actually train his body until even his tendons snapped.

nOf course, he had never done something like that before since it was stupid beyond belief to do that.

n‘But this world is different,’ Alex thought as he scratched his chin. ‘If the Mana in the atmosphere has some kind of healing and strengthening effect on even tendons, training until my tendons snap might actually have an even greater effect.’

nAlex looked at the forest with a conflicted expression.

n‘Yet, what if Mana actually doesn’t help in healing such injuries? What if it helps, but it takes several days for it to heal something like that? I would be helpless during that time.’

n‘I mean, I could try it in a village where I’m safe, but here? Not sure.’

nAlex sighed.

n‘I should start slowly. Let’s first get an above-average workout in. Let’s go until I would be wrecked with soreness for the next couple of days.’

nAlex mentally prepared himself for training, something he hadn’t done in a long time.

nAlex felt himself become more energetic and powerful as his brain sent signals to his body to prepare itself for a stressful time.

nThen, Alex did something surprising.

nHe took off all his clothes.

n‘I will be plenty warm when I train, and I don’t want my clothes to reek of sweat.’

nAlex made several of his joints crack as he jumped up and down a bit.

n‘Alright, let’s go!’

nAnd thus, Alex’s first training session began.

nHe took about ten minutes to warm up by running, jumping, falling to the ground, standing up, pulling himself up on branches, and doing lots of other things.

nAlex hadn’t trained in a long time, but as soon as his training actually began, he felt like no time had passed since his last session.

n‘Usually, I would only do some muscle groups, but today, I’m doing all of them!’

nAlex grabbed his sword and used it as a make-shift weight. After all, it was quite heavy.

nHe put it on his shoulders, stood on the tip of his toes, went back to standing normally, went back to the tip of his toes, and so on.

nThis trained the calves.

nThen, he did squats with the sword.

nThis trained the thighs.

nAlex was experienced enough to know what kind of movement would train what kind of muscles.

nSince this was an intense training session, Alex planned to make it a really long one.

nAbout one hour after Alex started training, the rain had arrived.

nAlex ignored the fire and the food. If the fire went out, it went out, and the meat could still be eaten when it was cold. It should be cooked by now anyway.

nHowever, Alex grabbed his bag and cleaned it.

nAfter that, he dug a small hole in the form of a bucket and put the bag inside it.

nHe had remembered that when his healing potions broke, they had made the back wet, but most of the liquid had still remained inside. This meant that the bag could hold water to some degree.

nAlex’s clothes had been put at a relatively dry place on his tree.

nIt took an entire 90 minutes until Alex had finished training his legs, and he already felt quite a bit of soreness. This was the point where he would normally stop training his legs when he had been on earth.

nFor safety’s sake, Alex also stopped training his legs at this point.

nHe had to check the usage of the Mana first.

nNext, Alex trained his arms and shoulders.

nAs Alex continued training, he felt some kind of primal feeling.

nHe hadn’t been sure where that feeling had come from initially, but he quickly found out.

nHe was training in the wilderness, away from any kind of responsibility, family, public image, work, and so on.

nOnly the rain drenching his body and the rough wilderness surrounded him.

nHe had to do nothing but train.

nTraining was his only responsibility.

nNothing else mattered.

nThere was no job he had to go back to.

nThere was no money he had to worry about.

nHe didn’t have to wake up and go to work.

nHe just had to grow more powerful.

nIn Alex’s mind, the training seemingly transformed from an exercise into some form of spiritual cultivation.

nAlex felt like this was the most primal and most fundamental truth of the world.

nJust power, nothing else.

nAfter 90 minutes, Alex was done with his arms and shoulders.

nLastly, Alex focused on his abdomen, chest, and back.

nThis took 60 minutes.

nThen, Alex was finally done.

nHe had trained for four full hours, and he felt as alive as never before. These new surroundings had given Alex an incredible boost in energy, and training under the rain had been a bit weird at the beginning, but Alex had grown to love training in the rain.

nIt kept him cool, and the sensations of the raindrops had been almost hypnotic.

nAlex took one more deep breath as he slowly cooled down from his training.

nA couple minutes later, Alex realized that his mind wasn’t as focused anymore.

nHe hadn’t eaten much since yesterday, and he was severely dehydrated.

nAlex checked on the bag and saw that it was full of water.

nSadly, the water wasn’t pure at all. It had a brownish tint to it.

n‘I can’t be choosy now.’

nAlex drank the brownish water. It definitely wasn’t tasting good, but the cool sensation of the water running down his dry throat was great, nonetheless.

nThen, Alex went over to the fireplace.

nThe fire had long been extinguished, and the meat was dripping with water from the rain.

nHowever, Alex still grabbed the meat and consumed it.

nIt was missing a lot of seasoning, and it wasn’t cooked well, but eating it like this awakened a special, primal feeling in Alex.

nSurprisingly, the meat tasted rather good!

nIt was quite tough, but it had a really strong taste, similar to game.

nAlex could have finished all of it, but he stopped himself.

nIt was important to not overfeed himself, or his concentration would wane while meditating.

nAfter Alex was finished eating and drinking some more, he sat down near his tree and put the sword beside him.

nThen, he closed his eyes and concentrated on the surroundings.

nSurprisingly, the sound of the rain wasn’t distracting. In actuality, it was helping Alex in getting in tune with his surroundings.

nAfter some minutes passed, Alex felt a kind of mysterious force in the air, and he was sure that he had never felt anything like this on earth.

nThis was new.

nThis had to be Mana!

nAlex concentrated on the Mana and tried to pull at it with his mind.

nIt took some getting used to, but after around half an hour, Alex had become quite good at pulling the Mana into himself.

nAlex imagined himself as a black hole that pulled everything in its surroundings into itself.

nHe had to absorb everything that touched him.

nThe earth, wood, air, and other forms of matter didn’t move, obviously, but since Alex’s mind was able to manipulate the Mana to some degree, the Mana flowed into Alex’s body.

nAs soon as the force entered Alex’s body, he felt his muscles become warm but not hot.

nIt felt nice and relaxing.

nIt was like Alex was taking a bath.

nLike this, three more hours passed.

nThe sun went over the horizon, and by now, night had arrived.

nAlex opened his eyes.

nHe had to be careful now.

n