Axel woke before the alarm again!
Not because he was rested.
Because his body hurt too much to stay asleep.
Every muscle felt tight, dense—like someone had replaced his blood with sand overnight. When he swung his legs off the bed, a sharp ache shot through his calves, forcing him to pause.
"…Damn."
He planted his feet anyway.
The system flickered to life immediately.
[Training Phase Initiated: Foundational Ascension]
Objective:
Rebuild host body from sub-awakened baseline
Correct muscular imbalance
Force adaptive growth under controlled stress
Duration: 14 Days
"Two weeks," Axel murmured. "Figures."
A second panel appeared.
[Today's Regimen]
• Bodyweight squats — 500
• Push-ups — 300
• Pull-ups — 200
• Sprint intervals — until muscular failure
• Mana circulation (basic) — 3 hours
Restriction:
No mana reinforcement permitted.
Axel stared.
Then slowly looked down at his arms.
"…You're trying to kill me."
[Correction.]
Host body will survive. Probability: 81.4%.
He exhaled sharply through his nose.
"Comforting."
TRAINING GROUNDS — 6:12 A.M.
Cross noticed it immediately.
Not strength.
Not speed.
Posture.
Axel stood straighter today. Still quiet. Still clearly outmatched. But the subtle tremor from before—the one that came from fear, not fatigue—was gone.
Cross folded his arms.
"Huh."
Axel dropped into his first set of squats.
The first fifty were easy.
By one hundred, his thighs burned.
By two hundred, sweat soaked through his shirt.
At three hundred, his breathing turned ragged.
At four hundred—
His vision blurred.
[Warning: Muscular microtearing detected.]
Axel gritted his teeth and kept moving.
[Adaptation in progress.]
By five hundred, his legs gave out and he collapsed onto the mat, chest heaving violently.
He didn't move for nearly a minute.
Cross watched without interrupting.
When Axel finally stood again—shaking, pale, drenched in sweat—Cross spoke.
"…You're slower today."
Axel nodded.
"But you didn't quit."
Axel said nothing.
He dropped and started push-ups.
DAY 4
Axel stopped counting pain.
Pain became background noise.
His world reduced to reps, breath, heartbeat.
The system adjusted constantly—altering pacing, increasing rest intervals by seconds, reducing them again just as fast.
Every night, he collapsed into bed barely conscious.
Every morning, he woke up sore—but not broken.
That was new.
During mana circulation training, something shifted.
The flow no longer felt like forcing water through cracked stone.
It still resisted.
But it moved.
[Mana stat has increased.]
Axel froze mid-breath.
"…What?"
The status window opened automatically.
Strength: 9 → 10
Endurance: 8 → 10
Vitality: 9 → 11
Mana: 4 → 6
He stared.
Not wide-eyed.
Not ecstatic.
Just… stunned.
"…It actually works."
The numbers were still low.
Pathetic, even.
But they were his.
Earned.
Real.
For the first time since awakening, Axel smiled—not because he felt strong—
But because he felt progress.
DAY 9
Cross frowned.
Axel finished his sprints today without collapsing.
Slower than most.
Still behind.
But his breathing stabilized faster.
His recovery time shortened.
Another instructor muttered quietly, "Is it just me, or…?"
Cross didn't answer.
He was watching Axel's eyes.
They weren't desperate anymore.
They were focused.
DAY 14 — END OF PHASE
Axel lay flat on the training mat, staring at the ceiling.
Every part of him burned.
But it was a deep, solid burn.
The kind that meant something had changed.
The system appeared one final time.
[Foundational Ascension — Complete]
Result:
Host body upgraded from sub-awakened baseline
Stability increased
Threat perception reduced
Status Update Available
Axel didn't open it immediately.
He closed his eyes instead.
And for the first time since this began—
He didn't feel like prey.
Just someone at the bottom…
Who had finally started climbing.