Chapter 17: I hate all of these
Inside the gym, dull thuds echoed. Amon was punching a boxing bag that looked comically large compared to him. It was a heavy-duty bag, clearly meant for sleepers or awakened. Medichi was beside him, doing the same.
"You're stronger than you look", Medichi said.
Amon, out of breath, replied, "It's all in the technique"
"Haha… you don't need to pretend" Medichi paused, then asked, "At least tell me, is this because of your Aspect ability?"
"No", replied Amon.
'So this is Veil of Mystery.'
'Why the fuck is it so overpowered? I am not complaining, but this raises so many concerns.'
'Am I someone's pawn? If not, such an overpowered ability should not be possessed by a Sleeper.'
Those thoughts passed in an instant — not even a moment had gone by after Amon's refusal.
Medichi laughed after hearing Amon's refusal, "Not telling the truth, not even now." He kept hitting the bag for a moment, then asked, "But answer me one thing — are you not worried that I'll tell others about your real personality?"
Amon too stopped punching. He stood still and appeared to be in thought. If Amon wanted, he could have answered right away, but he decided against it. He looked at the floor for a moment, then looked at Medichi. There was no particular reason Amon did that action. Because Amon knew, though Medichi would not expect his fast thinking to be an attribute, he knew he was capable of it. And Medichi also knew that Amon knew that he knew that he was capable of it. So there was no particular reason why.
"Well," Amon said, "it's your word against mine."
This answer didn't seem to satisfy Medichi. He said, "Well, I am a Legacy"
Amon replied, "That doesn't really matter right now, judging from your current situation"
"You are disowned, or a runaway, are you? And I am someone with a True Name."
"Disowned", replied Medichi, his tone was calm despite the severity of the answer.
"You seem to have a loving family", Amon commended. It was not sarcastic. Amon, from the tone of Medichi, deduced that it was most likely a trial or a family matter in the name of honour or some other bullshit.
"On some level, I can sympathise with you"
Medichi, knowing Amon was not saying it sarcastically, replied, "Thank you"
"Also," Amon added, "though my personality is mild, it does not differ much from my persona". Because if Amon were still wearing the mask, he would be making jokes and trying to create a warm and inviting atmosphere. "The core of how I act remains the same."
Then he started hitting the bag again.
Amon kept hitting the huge bag. He was already out of breath, but he steeled himself to continue. His arms were already tired and hurting; every strike brought aching pain, his muscles burning from fatigue, not only on his arms but also his core and lats, but he did not stop.
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Amon and Medichi were now sitting on the floor, resting.
Amon was looking at his communicator, searching for Kanye on the internet. He found multiple music videos, but the singer did not look like Kanye from his world. Though he had some resemblance to it, but only slightly.
He stared at the screen for a moment, genuinely confused by this world.
The map was different, but the names of places were the same — not entirely, but the continents matched. He had seen a world map hanging in Professor Julius's classroom.
'No, don't think of anything that will add to your stress.' Thinking this, Amon took a deep breath to relax and decided not to think about it for now.
Amon had made a deliberate choice not to do any research or try to find similarities between this world and his own. He had decided to only focus on one thing right now, that is to survive the dream realm. Other things can be dealt with later. Knowing more will bring unnecessary stress.
But how could someone not think of these things when something as absurd as transmigration had happened to them?
All these thoughts lead Amon to think about his parents. Thinking of his parents, Amon felt a pit of sadness form in his heart. The type of pit that physically hurts you.
Amon thought, "Why me, God?" and made a slight whimpering sound. His face was a bit crunched up. He would not have shown such an expression if not for Medichi already knowing how fake he is when interacting with others.
"I am going," Amon said, standing abruptly and heading towards the exit. Medichi just watched him leave, but before Amon could fully step out, he called out, "Hey, Amon, tomorrow same time?"
Amon paused and then looked at Medichi. 'Why?' thought Amon. Then Amon frowned a little and asked, "Why?"
Medichi smiled at that question, "Can't I ask a friend out?"
Amon furrowed his brows even more and looked at Medichi harder, 'Friends us?'
Amon was already tired from today's hassle, so he answered "Ok?" in a weird tone that sounded more like a question.
Medichi then said, "Ok then, same time tomorrow".
"See you tomorrow"
Amon nodded and then exited the gym. After closing the door, he stood there for a moment and thought, 'What was that?'
'Why did his personality shift so suddenly?'
Amon just sighed again and said, "Forget it, I've got bigger problems"
After saying that, Amon thought about his aspect ability, his intangibility.
'Judging from yesterday's experiment, most of my fucking abilities have some type of drawbag.'
'Fuck I hate this so much'
'My 360-degree vision gives me nausea, my fast thinking ability gives me brain damage and worst of all, my intangibility is fucking dangerous. What use is it when I can't breathe, can't hear, feel like my body is simultaneously going to explode, burn, and freeze? What's the point of an ability when the disadvantages outweigh everything else?'
'No, no. Don't think too deeply. Just deal with them' Amon reminded himself.
And took another deep breath. 'Wow, I am taking lots of deep breaths today, Amon thought while exhaling.
'Ok, focus!'
'I need to raise this body endurance and train my tolerance for intangibility.'
'Why can it be easy and simple?'
'Maybe I need to pray. Yeah, this must be a punishment'
'Will this really work? What if it does not?' Amon thought.
'No, trust in the Lord with all your heart'
As soon as this thought popped into Amon's mind, it was like he found the answer. He increased his stride to reach his room sooner.
As soon as Amon entered the room and closed the door, he knelt and started praying.
"O heavenly father, I am sorry for what I have committed after what you have blessed me with. Even after you have blessed me with wealth and love. I am sorry for using your money to buy weed. God, I promise I will quit if you would please forgive me. Amen"
Amon opened his eyes, expecting things to be ok but it did not.
"God, I am really sorry. I only did it once. I know that this is not an excuse, but I cannot be here. I miss my mom."
"God, I know that I have always maintained a fake relationship with you. But I promise I will change. Others have worse relations with you. What about them?"
As soon as that last part came out of his mouth, Amon regretted it and, as if to correct the mistake, said, "I know I should not compare my life with others. Still, God, please punish me in some other way, please"
As he was saying this, he was already sitting on the floor, resting his head on the bed and staring at the ceiling.
Feeling helpless, Amon said aloud, "God, if you are hearing me, please take care of my mother; she gets too worked up about nothing, so please"
Amon was staring at nothing. He did not really expect it to work, but still had faith, like a lingering hope. Feeling his helplessness, Amon rested his palm on his face. He sat like that beside the bed for minutes.
He was mostly concerned for his parents. What if it's a Re: Zero type of transmigration? He decided to push all his concerns aside, as he would not be able to do anything.
Unable to do anything, Amon said aloud, "Ok, let's start".
Then he started to do stretches. He tried to do a full-body split, but his hips were too stiff. Amon couldn't help but complain in his mind as he pushed the body to stretch even more, gritting through the pain.
After that gruelling session, he moved into his calisthenic routine. He kicked up into a handstand and started doing push-ups. In his old body, he would have been able to do only the handstand, but this body, because of the enhancements it has gained from its abnormal strength, perfect balance and low body weight, he was able to do it.
Amon did 20 before he could not. Then he held the position for as long as possible. Then, without resting, he transitioned directly into a dragon flag. It took quite a while for his muscles to get fatigued because of his attribute and low body weight. But he did not know any better exercise for it.
For his legs, he anchored himself to the bed and worked through Nordic curls.
Amon focused on training his body because, from what he knew about his intangibility, it was a double-edged sword. Amon remembered the moment of panic when all the air in his lungs slipped out. In that moment of panic, he felt like he was drowning. Remembering that moment, Amon felt a sense of fear in his heart.
So Amon decided to train his lungs by exhaling all his breath and holding it for as long as possible.
When he was done with all his work, he just sat on the floor beside his bed. Whenever he had nothing to do, the seriousness of the situation he was in always settled in. Amon thought of everything he had done and how he had interacted from the time he had transmigrated.
One stupid mistake that he made refused to leave his mind. Amon sat and remembered calling Sunny his childhood friend.
'Why did I say that? That was so stupid of me.'
'I could have just said we met at the station.'
'That was completely unnecessary, Amon thought in his mind. Being labelled as Sunless's friend was not worth the trouble in Amon's view. But since he had already said it, he cannot just take it back.
Amon said aloud, "Fuck its so unnecessarily troublesome"
Amon remembered every memory he had interacted with Sunny.
'Why?' Amon asked himself. Trying to figure out why Sunless would create a bad image for himself.
Amon revisited every assumption he had of Sunny. Amon had thought that his flaw was to act unlikable, or at least to people above him, but it was debunked when instructor Rock appeared. And Amon could tell it was intentional; all of Sunny's antics were for show.
After thinking for a while, Amon arrived at two possibilities. First: that Sunny got a very powerful ability and did not need anyone, which seems far-fetched, but the second was that he had a really easy tell on his flaw.
Amon thought about it for a while and gave up. He was fairly certain it was the second one, but he also knew people were unpredictable, too. For all he knows, Sunny might be crazy. Or he really thinks he is the MC or whatnot. Amon laughed at his own assumptions.
After relaxing for a while, Amon stood up, decided to get ready for bed and stepped into the bathroom.
After a while, he stepped out of the bathroom a few minutes later in a plain academy T-shirt and trousers. He sat down on the bed and opened his study materials, deciding to get through a portion before sleeping.
Author's Note — Intangibility
Amon's intangibility allows him to phase through physical matter entirely. However, energy — heat, cold, electricity, radiation — still affects him normally. In short, matter does not affect him, but waves or energy do.
The core drawback is simple: the moment he activates it, all gases inside his body pass through him and leave instantly. No air in his lungs. No oxygen in his blood. The experience is essentially vacuum exposure — lung collapse, moisture vaporisation, circulation failure, and hypoxia, all hitting simultaneously. The world also goes completely silent, since sound needs air to travel.
Returning to tangible comes with its own recovery period — violent lung reinflation, blurred vision, and temporary cognitive fog.
Divine Protection compresses his recovery significantly. But it doesn't make the experience painless. It just ensures he doesn't stay broken.
If you want more, or if I am not explaining it clearly enough, tell me.
A/n: plz comment and review