n

n

nAlex slowly stood up, and as soon as he did, his eyes widened.

nAlex looked down at his body with wonder.

n‘My muscles, they feel fine!’ Alex thought with shock.

nAlex moved his body around and did some light, basic exercises to test his body.

nSure enough, he felt completely fine!

nIt was like he hadn’t just trained for four hours!

nAs Alex looked at his body with shock, the realization that this world was nothing like this previous one really set in for the first time.

nAlex had done enough sports on earth to know exactly how he should be feeling right now.

nYet, not even the slightest feeling of weakness was present.

n‘The feeling of weakness while doing the workout comes from the built-up lactic acid, but after such a long resting period, the lactic acid has already vanished. The feeling of weakness after that comes from the small, torn muscle fibers.’

n‘So, since this feeling isn’t present, does it mean that my muscle fibers have already healed?’ Alex thought with surprise.

n‘Have I already gone through the recovery phase?!’

nAlex tried to comprehend his current situation.

nHe was even more shocked by this revelation than when he had seen the giant hedgehog.

nWhy?

nBecause Alex knew exactly how insane this was.

nAlex remembered a gaming term from his past life.

nThis was broken!

n‘So, I can literally give my entire body several workouts each day?’

nHowever, Alex’s feeling of shock and exhilaration quickly vanished.

nWhy?

nBecause Alex’s mind was going to a dangerous place.

n‘Theoretically, the more damaged the muscle, the stronger it will become. The problem on earth is that the recovery period for such damage would be so long that it wouldn’t be nearly as efficient as training normally.’

n‘But here?’

n‘I’m not even sure if the power increase comes from the workout or the absorbed Mana. It could be that I only need to damage my muscles to make them absorb more Mana. I might not need to do actual, traditional training.’

nAlex’s eyes focused on his left arm, and he felt a complex mix of feelings.

nAnticipation, nervousness, fear, curiosity, greed.

nWas Alex a normal human?

nWhen living in a normal environment, sure, he could be called normal.

nHowever, if he would remain normal while being flung into a new world, the God wouldn’t have chosen him to enter his world.

nAfter all, that would have been boring.

nThe entire reason why Alex was supposed to grow powerful in a non-traditional way was entertainment.

nThe God wanted to be entertained.

nSo, obviously, the God wouldn’t have chosen a boring person.

nAlex glanced at his left arm several times with a complex expression.

nHis heart rate increased as he became more nervous.

n‘I need to try it!’ Alex thought with gritted teeth.

nWith that, the decision had been made.

nAlex would damage the muscles in his left arm to such a degree that it would be considered an injury on earth.

n‘This is going to hurt like hell!’ Alex thought with narrowed eyes.

nSplash!

nAlex left his tree and let himself fall onto the wet floor.

nThen, he just stayed there for half a minute, motionless.

nAfter half a minute, he turned to a different spot.

nThis weird procedure continued for nearly half an hour.

nHalf an hour later, Alex felt incredibly cold.

nHis teeth were chattering as the sensations of his body became numb.

nAlex slowly turned over.

nAnd then, he violently pushed with his left arm using all his strength!

nAlex had decided to lower the temperature of his body and go all out without warming up.

nHe would train his left arm with all his power immediately!

nNo sane person would do this on earth.

nWhy?

nBecause it was way harder for muscles to stay flexible while they were cold. If the muscle fibers weren’t flexible, they would tear way quicker and in greater quantity.

nIt didn’t even take a full minute for Alex’s “technique” to show results.

nA burning sting of pain shot through Alex’s left biceps as it violently cramped up.

nHowever, Alex was used to cramps, and he managed to continue pushing his left arm far past its limits.

nJust a minute later, Alex had to stop as he held his left arm in severe pain.

nHe had probably torn a huge part of his left biceps.

nYet, Alex wasn’t done.

nA mad glint appeared in Alex’s eyes as he wanted to go even further.

nBANG! BANG! BANG!

nAlex balled his right hand into a fist and violently beat up his left biceps.

nTen seconds later, Alex stopped as he only gasped for air.

nAlex knew exactly how long something like this would take to heal on earth.

n‘Something like this would probably take four to six weeks to heal on earth. I hope it doesn’t take that long to heal here because the pain is driving me crazy!’

nAlex held his left biceps as he walked over to his tree.

nThen, he sat down and tried to meditate.

nIt was far harder to enter meditation since he was in severe pain, but after an hour, he managed to connect with the Mana again.

nAlex felt his left biceps cool down from the hot pain, and the pain also slowly receded into the background. However, the pain was still there.

nAlex concentrated on the Mana in the air until he no longer felt the warm sensation on his left biceps.

nThen, he opened his eyes and moved his left arm.

nAs Alex saw the result, another complex mix of emotions appeared in his mind.

nDisbelief, exhilaration, fear.

nWhy disbelief?

nBecause his biceps had fully healed!

nWhy exhilaration?

nBecause this meant that Alex could gain power at a terrifying rate!

nWhy fear?

nBecause this meant that Alex had to go through an insane amount of pain!

nAlex knew exactly what this meant.

nTraining would transform from an enjoyable exercise into pure torture.

nThere would be no more fun in training.

nTraining would be full of pain, nothing else.

nAlex knew that he could still continue training normally. Like this, he would still enjoy the process while growing more powerful.

nYet, Alex also knew that this choice wasn’t really a choice.

nNow that Alex had been in this world for over a day, an urge had appeared inside of him.

nAlex had seen several creatures that could kill him easily.

nAlex didn’t want to die.

nAdditionally, the God had said that Alex could reach insane amounts of power.

nOn earth, physical power was useful for staying healthy and earning money.

nBut here, everything revolved around it.

nIntelligence wasn’t the most important thing.

nConnections weren’t the most important thing.

nMoney wasn’t the most important thing.

nInfluence wasn’t the most important thing.

nPower was!

nAlex had seen the God’s power when he had summoned the previous Mage Emperor and when he had changed the very reality in his hall.

nIt didn’t matter how many people attacked him.

nIt didn’t matter what weapons everyone used.

nIn front of this God, all of these things became useless.

nAlex knew that there was a possibility that he could become just as powerful as the God.

nWhat would that mean?

nFreedom!

nPower!

nEverything that he wanted!

nNothing in the entire world would be able to stop him!

nHe could do whatever he wanted without any repercussions and without any worries!

nToday, Alex had truly awakened his undying thirst for power.

nHe had to become powerful!

nNothing was more important than power!

nNothing!

nAfter steeling his resolve, Alex climbed up his tree.

nAfter he reached a height of a couple of meters, Alex gritted his teeth.

nThen, he jumped down.

nAs long as his bones didn’t break, everything would be fine!

nBANG!

n