Chapter 16: Exercise

Rock performed squats with a large stone on his back as directed by the system.

After taking the Hyorogan made from mysterious herbs that contained many nutrients and stimulants, Lee began to transform before his eyes in terms of appearance...

At first, Lee's black hair got a little longer and tangled, and his ponytail came loose to show stiff locks with iron tips.

Then, Lee's nails grew quickly until they looked like real, sharp claws with a pure silver aura that formed around him and seeped into his muscles and bones to make them much stronger.

Lee felt a strength that could temporarily move mountains.

However, he still didn't have time to stand there and act, and Lee got his strength together and started exercising as if he wanted to die as usual!

Rock tried to trick the system by finding small stones to put on his back, but the system made a heavy boulder appear out of nowhere and hit him hard in the back of the head and spine.

Nevertheless, Lee never gives up right away?!

That's why an even greater pressure descended upon him because of gravity, with legs shaking and ready to snap like twigs, but he managed to maintain his balance.

He almost sank into the loose ground, and this increased his weight, so he began to protest.

Rock kept desperately going down and up while tensing up and stretching his muscles until sweat dripped from every part of his body and over his dark, wet hair.

"Come on, then?.. This pill... What is it even doing hehehe?.. Why do I feel... So good?.."

Lee felt a grin of furious ecstasy spreading across his face with a question.

He looked like a laughing demon was bursting out of him, and Lee began to distort in tension.

He even felt pleasure all of a sudden even though the muscles in his back, hips, shins, and feet were horribly hurting and burning with an uncontrollable flame of pain.

"Hehehe... Hehehe... Ohh... Training under the pill... Turns out to be so great!"

Lee grinned even wider, stretching and even distorting his facial expression to hell.

Lee couldn't keep track of time because his whole world seemed to flip back and forth every second.

How many squats did he even do?

Ten? Twenty? Fifty?

What did the white pill do to him?!

Lee kept getting notifications from the system but didn't pay much attention to them because there wasn't time for that right now.

Rock immediately switched to pull-ups to quickly adjust his posture and disappeared the heavy weight on his back that dispersed like dust in the wind.

He felt much stronger now, and he wanted more, more, more, and more.

He couldn't control his desire to break his body and use the broken bones to build an unbreakable skeleton.

The notification flashed before his eyes, but Lee couldn't stop searching for an opportunity to grab onto something and start exercising...

"Pull-ups... Pull-ups... Pull-ups..."

Then Rock's thoughts emptied as if leaving behind nothing but a blank white sheet.

However, he continued to work even in such an unconscious state, like a robot or cyborg empty of knowledge of limits.

He could not help but be frustrated as each of the branches in the training ground broke, and he could not support his weight because of the increased gravity.

The system had to help him again by building a strong, high steel bar in front of him.

Lee quickly jumped on it to push off the ground, and grabbed onto the pole with his white eyes, and lifted himself up.

That's how it ended up in the end.

[Name: Rock Lee]

[Shinobi Rank: Genin]

[Health: ???%]

[Stamina: ???%]

[Chakra: ???%]

[Taijutsu Rank: C+]

[Ninjutsu Rank: —]

[Genjutsu Rank: —]

[Inventory]

[Achievements]

[List of Hellish Exercises: ???]

[Bronze Chest Rewards]

[20,000 ryo]

[Fuma Shuriken]

[Healing Ointment]

[Rokushiki Style: Kami-e]

[Bronze Box Rewards]

[20,000 ryo]

[Steel Shield]

[White Pill]

[Impulse]

Lee fell while raising dust and dirt behind him.

He was lying on the ground like a broken rag doll with a barely fluttering flag nearby.

The special-class pill turned out to be a real curse that left behind only him skinny as if dried out with deep dark circles under his eyes.

"Ha-ha-ha!"

Lee finally recovered himself and laughed so hard that he was hoarse.

He didn't have the strength to even sit down, let alone stand up and he dragged himself across the ground like a snake.

"System, oh, please, no more pills. I've had enough of this..."

After struggling to get on his stomach and focus the last of his chakra in his limbs, Lee was able to catch his breath.

He then propped himself up with his hands on the ground and lifted himself up.

Nevertheless, it would be wrong to say that everything was as bad as it seemed because while there was fatigue, it wasn't as bad as with regular black stimulant pills.

Lee's original plan worked out overall, and the exercises were completed, but...

At what cost? Sanity, right?

It's terrible.

Lee exerted himself to tear the healing ointments into pieces and then rubbed the paste into his calloused palms.

The healing ointment then spread all over his body, giving him a nice relaxing warmth that made his nerves tingle a little.

Lee realized as night fell that he would never be able to get enough sleep unless he went home to get some rest, even if he wanted to learn new techniques from the system and perform well at Guy's evaluation.

However, there is no other way, and there are risks and difficulties.

The most important thing was that he woke up and no longer looked like a crazy, scary berserker.

He no longer looked like a faceless, sadistic, and masochistic monster who only wanted to crush himself and others.

"Those pills are awful crap!!"

Lee came to that conclusion, and his dusty face now resembled little messy black fir trees.

It was funny, but Lee shouldn't think about it too much.

Instead, Lee should focus on the fact that his mind is quickly filled with memories of precisely training Kami-e and Impulse.

[Kami-e: A technique that allows the user's body to become agile enough at the moment of another's attack to resemble a fluttering sheet of paper.]

[Impulse: The user focuses the chakra on a particular limb or any part of the body, increasing flexibility and dexterity. The use can imbue chakra and send molecular pulses to a particular area or the entire body.]

This is similar to Eight Trigrams Palms because it is transmitted through rotation but it is not necessary to rotate.

The chakra could even be expelled from Tenketsu in the hands, legs, and other parts of the body with the right skill.

'It's useful, no doubt. However, I'm sure I won't be able to learn Impulse overnight since my Tenketsu aren't prepared at all. However, I'll try to figure out Kami-e because it seems that the current list of techniques from Rokushiki will be within my grasp, haha...'

Lee smirked to himself and promptly stood up when he felt that his muscles and entire body had stopped hurting.

This was especially clear when he hit the tree and the leaves fell off without touching Rock's arms at all.