After showing his ID to the guard there, they allowed him into the Training Center of his city—Westhood City. It was a Rank 1 city, which meant the city's highest-rank dungeon gate was Rank 1.
Cities were divided into many ranks, and Rank 1 cities were the second from the bottom. The lowest ones were mortal cities—where mortal civilians lived, and supernatural activities were almost nonexistent there.
Entering inside, he booked himself a room. It was costly, costing him 1,000 credits per hour, but he did it anyway and then walked into his room. It was a 100-by-100 room with a single sturdy training dummy at the end.
"Now, let's see… Do I start with swordsmanship? Or should I train my body first?" he said as he began stretching.
"10 km run, 100 push-ups, and other basic stuff…" he muttered.
But then he noticed the extra feature included with the 1,000-credit room: gravity and weather adjustment.
He set the weather to a desert heat and increased the gravity by 3 times. The moment he did, his body sank a bit as he hissed.
"God… one step and it feels like I'm under a mountain…
The only difference is my willpower is stronger than death," he said as he smacked his cheeks and prepared to start.
He took a deep breath, wiped the sweat already forming on his forehead, and then—
Thud.
He forced one foot forward.
"Okay… okay… I can walk…" he muttered, even though every joint in his legs screamed otherwise.
The heat, the dryness, the triple gravity—everything pressed against him like a giant iron hand.
But then his SSS talent activated.
[ Absolute Body: Limitless Growth—Passive Effects Active ]
A faint warmth spread through his muscles, easing the pain just barely enough for him to move.
Mike grinned.
"Oh yeah… this cheat is real."
He slowly entered a jogging stance.
"Let's begin with the 10 km run. If Saitama can do it, I can do it too… somehow…"
He took off—if one could call that "running."
In reality, it looked more like a fish trying to sprint on land.
After only twenty meters, he collapsed on his face.
"UAARGHH—MY ENTIRE EXISTENCE HURTS!"
He lay sprawled on the ground, twitching slightly.
But then… the warmth from the talent intensified.
His breathing steadied in seconds.
The burning in his muscles cooled.
The dizziness left his head.
"…Holy shit…" he whispered as he pushed himself upright.
"My fatigue recovery… the ten times is really insane?!"
He jumped experimentally.
His body was still heavy—but the pain? Almost gone.
He grinned like a madman.
"Alright, round two!"
He forced himself into another run.
Twenty meters.
Thirty meters.
Fifty meters.
With each break and exercise, he was improving rapidly.
Soon, a whole three hours passed as Mike lay on the ground, panting heavily like a dog.
His chest rose and fell like a dying fish as he tapped open his status screen with trembling fingers.
The blue panel appeared, and Mike squinted at the numbers.
[ Name: Mike Vester ]
[ Class: Knight Apprentice ]
[ Level: 1 ]
[ Strength: 4.3 → 4.9 ]
[ Agility: 2.4 → 3.5 ]
[ Constitution: 3.2 → 4.9 ]
[ Intelligence: 1.5 ]
[ Attribute Points: 0 ]
[ Talent: Absolute Body – Limitless Growth (SSS) ]
"My physical stats increased a lot… Well, I mostly only ran so my agility and constitution rose more," he mumbled, as three hours of his exercise was like gaining two or three levels almost.
"Thanks to the money I have, I can train a lot before going to the Origin World and getting more stats," he muttered as he stretched.
He then stood up and booked another three hours—this time focusing on the strength aspect.
He walked toward the weapon rack lined against the wall. Swords, spears, axes, gauntlets—everything a knight trainee could need.
Mike grabbed a standard iron sword.
The moment he lifted it under 3× gravity, his arm dropped.
"UGH—this thing got heavier, right?!"
Of course, it didn't.
His weak strength stat simply wasn't used to this punishment.
He gritted his teeth, then tightened his grip.
"No giving up… I need to raise Strength now."
He took a stance he vaguely remembered from the original Mike's memories and swung down.
CLANG!
The blade barely dented the training dummy.
His wrist vibrated violently.
"Ow—ow—OW! Damn it!"
But in a few seconds, the talent kicked in.
Warmth spread through his arm, the shaking stopped, and the pain faded to almost nothing.
Mike blinked.
"…This talent is definitely cheating."
He raised the sword again.
CLANG!
"Ghh—!"
CLANG!
"Aaah—!"
Swing after swing.
Pain—warmth—recovery.
Pain—warmth—recovery.
Over and over like an endless cycle.
Minutes turned to tens of minutes.
His arms felt like they were made of molten metal, but the recovery effect kept him moving.
Soon his shirt was plastered with sweat, and steam rose off him like he was boiling in the desert heat.
Then—
Ding!
A faint notification appeared.
[ Skill: Basic Swordsmanship Acquired ]
[ Strength rose by 0.4 permanently. ]
[ Agility rose by 0.3 permanently. ]
[The constitution rose by 0.1 permanently.]
Mike blinked once.
Then twice.
And then his grin stretched so wide it almost split his face.
"Hoh… So learning a skill gives free stats too?!"
He laughed breathlessly. "This is too good… WAY too good!"
His legs trembled a little from the 3× gravity, but his excitement drowned it out.
He rolled his shoulders, feeling the faint strength returning through his muscles.
With Absolute Body constantly recovering him, it felt like a perpetual motion machine of training.
He took one deep breath—
—and jumped back into position.
"Alright… no breaks. If I keep going, I might even unlock Intermediate within the week!"
He swung again.
SWISH! CLANG!
The sword sliced through the air more smoothly now, his footing automatically adjusting as if his body already understood the basics.
Taking a deep breath he continued,
Cut horizontally.
Another.
Vertical slash.
Diagonal.
Each swing felt more natural, his body lightly correcting errors he wasn't consciously aware of.
Sweat poured down his chin, soaking his clothes, but the recovery buff washed away the worst of the fatigue within seconds.
He could feel it.
He was improving.
Fast.
Too fast.