After instructing Ying Ping to stay home and watch the house, Hestia needed to return to the streets to continue working.
She stood at the church entrance, repeatedly admonishing him: "Remember! You absolutely cannot run around!"
"And without my permission, you absolutely cannot go near the dungeon for now, not even a single step!"
Hestia stood on tiptoe, poking Ying Ping's forehead with her finger, threatening him in a cute but fierce tone: "If you dare to sneak off…"
"I won't update your ability scores for three days—no, for a whole week!"
She was afraid that Ying Ping was a reckless person who would become overconfident after receiving the Divine Blessing and run off to the dungeon to his death.
"Yes, my most beloved Goddess~"
Ying Ping saluted in a non-standard but serious manner.
Watching Hestia's blue ribbon disappear around the street corner, Ying Ping eagerly brought up the system interface that only he could see:
[Shadow Monarch System]
[Level]: LV1
[Strength]: 5
[Agility]: 4
[Stamina]: 3
[Intelligence]: 5
[Magic]: 0
[HP]: 100 / 100
[MP]: 0 / 0
[Skill Slots]: Empty
[Inventory]: Empty
Every Familia member who had just received the Divine Blessing would have all their ability scores set to I0.
But the system could display Ying Ping's true stats in a different numerical format.
"This is too accurate…"
Aside from his strength, Ying Ping looked at his other stats, which were even lower than those of an ordinary person, and couldn't help but force a bitter smile.
But when he clicked on [Daily Quests], his eyes suddenly lit up.
[Preparation of the Strong]
- 100 Push-ups (0 / 100)
- 100 Sit-ups (0 / 100)
- 100 Squats (0 / 100)
- 10 km Run (0 / 10km)
[Quest Completion Reward]: Status Recovery × 1, Basic Stat Allocation Points + 10, Random Treasure Chest × 1
"Isn't this Saitama-sensei's One-Punch Man training method?!"
Ying Ping blurted out.
Looking at the setting sun outside the church, and thinking of the three tempting quest rewards, he gritted his teeth and shouted, "I'll do it!"
Time is money, and today's daily quest cannot be wasted!
As it turned out, the moment he did his first push-up, Ying Ping realized the seriousness of the problem.
As soon as his hands touched the ground, he felt an unnatural strain and soreness in his wrist joints.
His thirty-year-old body, which often stayed up late and had not undergone any exercise, immediately let out a cry of protest.
"One, two, three, four…"
By the fifth push-up, his bicep muscles began to spasm uncontrollably.
Sweat from his forehead instantly blurred his vision, and he saw his slightly bulging belly comically scraping the ground.
"Damn it… I'm too weak, I'm too useless…"
Ying Ping began to curse himself.
By the twentieth, his arms were trembling like a sieve, a drop of sweat splattered on the stone brick, and his entire face was contorted with pain.
(It's too hard, I should just give up… Anyway, there's the system…)
(There must be other ways to get stronger…)
As soon as this fleeting thought emerged, he suddenly saw Hestia's disappointed face appear before his eyes.
"Urgh—!"
Ying Ping suddenly roared, a new surge of strength filling him, and veins pulsed at his temples.
"I can't give up, I must persevere… hold… on…"
Sweat drops formed small puddles on the floor. When he finally, intermittently, and desperately completed the hundredth one, he collapsed onto the ground like a pile of mud.
"This is only… the first item completed…"
Ying Ping was drenched in sweat and almost completely exhausted, but his eyes were red.
Thinking of Hestia, who cared for him, he struggled to get up again and started doing sit-ups.
As expected, sit-ups were even more hellish.
The abdominal muscles and lower back of a thirty-year-old man, long lacking exercise, simply couldn't exert any strength.
Ying Ping had to hook his feet under a long bench to get leverage.
At the fifty-third one, there was a crisp 'crack' from his lower back, and the intense pain made his vision go black.
In a daze, he seemed to see Hestia again, dressed in her shop assistant uniform, selling fried potato balls on the street—
That small, adorable deity, struggling for a living every day. What was his little pain compared to that…
"Ugh ah ah ah!"
"Hestia, for you!!!"
Ying Ping grabbed his hair with both hands, forcing himself up. Amidst the tearing pain in his abs, he managed to complete the full number.
After resting like a dead fish for half a day, Ying Ping gathered his spirits and started doing squats.
He had thought this would be easier, but he hadn't expected that a thirty-year-old man's knees would be even more overwhelmed.
Every time his knees bent, it felt like a broken spring twisting in his joints.
Halfway through, Ying Ping had to lean against the wall, his legs trembling violently.
(Why am I… pushing myself so hard…)
The answer suddenly became clear.
(Why else…)
Because Ying Ping wanted to get stronger, and then become a powerful adventurer that Hestia could be proud of!
Ying Ping recalled Hestia's shining eyes when she said he was her first member, and suddenly, as if possessed, he began to speed up.
In the twilight ruins of the church, a dark figure mechanically repeated movements among the broken walls.
By the time he finished all three hundred basic training exercises, Ying Ping felt dizzy, and his vision was already blurry.
He then dragged his leaden legs and started running laps around the church, each step as unsteady as if he were treading in a mud pit.
Ying Ping's guess was correct; compared to the first three sets of 100 reps each, the most fatal was the 10-kilometer run.
After only a few hundred meters, Ying Ping was gasping for breath, feeling a burning pain in his lungs as if they were being seared by a hot iron.
However, he still gritted his teeth and persisted.
Because at the very least, he could run slower, as long as he was running.
"Ha ah… Ha ah…"
By the third kilometer, Ying Ping tasted blood in his mouth, and the only sound in his ears was his own ragged breathing, like a broken bellows.
"No, I'm going to die… I'm really going to drop dead if this continues…"
His heart pounded violently, and Ying Ping stumbled, having to lean against a lamppost and stop.
He saw his pathetic self in the reflection of the glass—pale face, drenched in sweat, purple lips, looking barely alive.
"Heh… Hah… Come on, victory is in sight…"
"So, I can't stop now…"
Ying Ping tore at his collar, continuing to move forward like a dying beast.
Finally, the sky completely darkened.
Under the moonlight, Ying Ping's figure staggered in circles around the church.
Ignoring the burning pain in his lungs and throughout his body, he stared intently at the system interface: [].
The moment the number jumped to 10km, Ying Ping fell face down into the grass.
The system prompt sounded in his ears:
[Daily Quest Completed]
[Reward Issued]
Ying Ping used trembling fingers to click [Status Recovery], and a cool energy instantly swept through his entire body.
His sore muscles were re-energized, and his scraped knees healed completely.
His HP, hunger, stamina, and energy were all instantly refilled!
"It's amazing, this power…!"
Ying Ping got up from the ground again, looking at his hands with an expression of disbelief.
He heard light footsteps approaching and quickly turned around, meeting Hestia's astonished blue eyes.
"Ying Ping-kun, you…"
Hestia's vegetable basket dropped to the ground, scattering potatoes everywhere.
She suddenly rushed over and grabbed Ying Ping's completely soaked clothes: "You've been training yourself so desperately all this time?"
"Uh, actually, it's not that desperate; it's just normal training."
"Alright, Hestia, let go quickly; I'm very dirty."
Ying Ping subconsciously tried to avoid her, but Hestia hugged him tightly.
The loli goddess's face was buried in his sweaty chest, and she said in a muffled voice: "Idiot… you don't have to get stronger so fast. What if you hurt yourself…?"
The moonlight illuminated their intertwined shadows.
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. That kind of thing won't happen."
Ying Ping gently hugged the petite loli goddess back, feeling the warmth against his chest, and couldn't help but smile.