Furious Training

Michael slowly woke up and noticed it was pitch black outside. He checked the clock and saw it was 2:15 am. That potion knocked him out for four hours. "Open my stats"

Name: Michael Rodriguez

Strength: 1.0

Intelligence: 1.4

Stamina: 0.9

Agility: 0.9

Status: Healthy

Credits:1,000

It seemed like each stat increased by 0.3; finally, he clicked on the basic training manual and an influx of information flooded into his brain. There were some physical training methods that look like martial arts and there were some meditation techniques specifically for raising intelligence. He first tried the meditation technique.

It was hard to clear the mind and enter the meditative state. After about an hour he finally felt his mind loosen and entered a trance. When he woke up he felt relaxed and felt like his mind was sharp. Then he tried the physical exercises and barely finished one set when he collapsed.

It was 4:00 am and he needed to mow the lawn in the morning so he went to bed for once with a smile.

The next day he trained for 2 hours before heading to the storeroom. It took him four hours to mow the lawn for the whole compound. When he finally finished he felt like he could eat a horse. He grabbed his bike and headed to the only grocery store in town. On the way, he saw Brett yelling at his dog while trying to walk it. Brett got a golden retriever when he was in middle school and he bragged about it to everyone. But he quickly got tired of the dog, hence the current situation. Michael knows he was stronger and will keep getting stronger; however, Brett's dad was the police chief; which was the main reason he frequently got away with his actions.

"One day I will get my revenge but I will probably have to leave town to avoid trouble from his dad" Michael murmured. Fortunately, the system gave him confidence because he knew he could survive anywhere with the system. The only problem was that the skills were so expensive and he had no idea how he was going to be able to afford them. Michael decided to just finish the training missions and get stronger; He will worry about money later.

He bought some instant noodles and some microwave meals and headed home. He got back and ate some noodles and resumed training. He trained till night and collapsed in the bed. The next day he spent the morning reading web novels and spent the rest of the day training. Before going to bed he checked his stats again.

Name: Michael Rodriguez

Strength: 1.4

Intelligence: 1.8

Stamina: 1.3

Agility: 1.3

Status: Healthy

Credits:1,000

It only increased by .2 per day and he knew the training speed was not always going to be this fast. But as long as he can keep getting better, one day he will be strong enough to protect himself.

The next two weeks he trained furiously hoping to finish his mission and become stronger. He stayed away from Brett but he grew more confident each day. Finally on July 4th as the fireworks were going off in the sky he heard an alert from the mission tab.

[Congratulations on finishing your first mission. All rewards have been granted]

"Status" Michael was excited to see the changes.

Name: Michael Rodriguez

Strength: 3.1

Intelligence: 3.5

Stamina: 3.0

Agility: 3.0

Status: Healthy

Credits:2,000

He felt like a new person; He was much stronger and felt like his mind was more efficient. Michael used to be 5 ft 8 in and weighed 140 pounds. Now he grew 2 inches and gained 20 pounds. His muscles were toned and he looked like a pro-athlete. He was very happy with his progress and was looking forward to the future. As he sat there watching the fireworks he felt resonance with the holiday. Just like America, he too gained independence on this day.

There was an intermediate genetic potion and a training manual in his inventory; also there was a new mission.

[ Mission 1: A strong Emperor (Part 2)

Objective: Every emperor needs to be strong in order to realize his goals of building a magnificent empire. Use the genetic potion and practice the intermediate training techniques to increase all stats to at least six.

Rewards: Advanced genetic potion, Advanced training manual,1000 credits]

"How many more training missions are there?" Michael did not want to spend the rest of his life training. What is the point of being superhuman if all you do is train?

[With the advanced materials host can train till all stats are at least nine. After that host needs to purchase the supreme genetic potion and the training manual himself. Furthermore, supreme training requires the X-51 training chamber and many additional materials. Therefore, this will be the last training mission.]

Looking at the store, Michael noticed the supreme genetic potion and training manual costs 1 million credits each. He didn't have the heart to check the price of the training chamber.

Michael then headed to the public library. He knew he needs to find ways to make money and he decided to increase his knowledge. With his new stats, he can be considered a genius.

At the library

A blonde teenager was sitting at the library looking bored. Brenda hated this job but after high school, she did not really have much choice. Since her grandmother was the librarian she was lucky to get the library clerk position. She saw a teenage boy walking into the library and she was stunned.

"Hello Brenda, How are you?" Michael was not happy to see Brett's sister, but their family was practically everywhere in this town so he was helpless.

"Michael wow you look different. Did you have a late growth spurt?" Brenda could not believe what she was seeing; Michael Rodriguez was famous in high school because he was the wimpiest kid in school. She knew her brother loved to beat him up and humiliated him often. She never really cared about him and just thought he was an eyesore. Nevertheless, here he was looking like a changed figure. His wimpy figure was replaced by a toned athletic body and he looked confident.

"Yeah, I guess so. I was wondering if I can check out some books." Michael knew all his high classmates would be astonished if they saw him, but now he did not really place them in his eyes. She gave him the forms to fill out and he got a temporary card. He went to the business section and checked out some books on investing. He also checked out a Spanish textbook. He learned some Spanish in high school but he needed a refresher. Spanish was practically an official language in Texas; so it was good to know.

Over the next two months, he spent all his free time training and reading books. Michael now felt like he was Superman; He could bend pipes, run faster than a racehorse. Most importantly he felt like he had an extra brain. He could multi-task and read multiple books at once. He could remember things from elementary school.

When he meditated he felt like he was one with the world; like he was accessing a higher state of consciousness. He felt empowered; Like all the past worries and stress was just a petal in the flower of life. He checked his status.

Name: Michael Rodriguez

Strength: 6.2

Intelligence: 6.8

Stamina: 6.0

Agility: 6.0

Status: Healthy

Credits:3,000

There was an advanced training manual and genetic potion in his inventory. The potion tasted sweet going down his throat and surprisingly it did not hurt like the other times. This time he felt his body was gently being reformed. Before he felt like he was standing at the edge of the bridge unable to go any farther, now he saw the bridge extending farther inviting him to come and conquer. The advanced training manual built upon the other manuals and added more strenuous exercises and new meditation poses.

The basic phase took him two weeks while the intermediate phase took him two months. He knew the advanced phase would take even longer. Therefore, He decided to gradually train; he was strong enough for now. He turned his attention to all the books stacked in his room.

He read all the books in the library about investing and learned Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Japanese and even French. Learning languages were easy; he mostly watched anime in those languages. However, after learning about investing he was in a dilemma. All the methods in the books recommended long-term investment portfolios and stock options. These methods required a large amount of capital, to begin with. It seems that there was no easy quick cash method. "Will I ever be able to afford any skills?"