Advancement

After quite some time, Elias pushed his hand against the ground and pulled his body upwards, panting heavily in the process.

"Ninety-nine… one hundred…"

After the hundredth count, his body fell onto the surface while beads of sweat drenched his body. His prison uniform was nowhere to be seen, revealing his thin but toned body.

"Huuu…"

Elias panted as he stood up and walked to a nearby bench. It had already been two hours since he started working out.

His body was already sore, and at pain from the constant working out. He made sets like he was a man in a mission.

Thinking of that, Elias murmured "system" quietly.

[Name: Elias Vito Castellano (Elias Roan)

Race: Human

Talent: Indomitable Spirit

Rank: E+

Level: 18

Unused status points: 0

STR: E+ (89/100)

AGI: E+ (82/100)

STA: E+ (82/100)

CONST: E+ (82/100)

INT: E (51/100)

MAGI: E- (43/100)

GROWTH: D+ (0/200)

SKILLS: [Way of Castellano], [Ferocious Underdog (Passive)], [Gaze of Intimidation (Passive)]...]

[Way of Castellano - A compilation of martial techniques and abilities Andolinio, The Godfather, had created during his life.]

[Ferocious Underdog - The more disadvantagous the situation, the stronger the body and mind.]

[Gaze of Intimidation - Eyes of a predator. Naturally intimidate someone from a single stare.]

As soon as he whispered the word, a blue, static screen displayed itself in front of his eyes.

From [Growth: D] it turned into [Growth: D+].

Before he started working out, he allocated his unused status points to his growth so he could improve much faster.

'The gains are not that bad…'

Elias nodded slowly. He had been working tirelessly out for two hours straight, and thus he more or less expected that his stats rose a little.

Even when his muscles were sore and at pain, he still kept on going with the assistance of his subordinates.

Pain and suffering was catalyst of growth.

As evidence, his efforts were reciprocated with a little rise of level. From level 17, he was now level 18.

The condition for advancing a level was having four attributes increase in experience, while the condition for advancing a rank was having four attributes have a grade above your rank (except growth).

He wanted to reach Rank D at this day. From his improvement, he could surmise that it was possible to advance as long as he kept working out non stop.

'By the trajectory of things, it will be a matter of time before I rank up...'

Elias nodded slowly. Since he was still at E Rank and his growth was rather above average, his progress was rapid.

However, this wouldn't last long.

When one became a D Ranker, improving oneself through simple workout and exercise was nearly impractical.

And the higher one's rank, the more useless such simple exercise and work out become.

However, that did not mean it was fully useless. It could help with discipline and facilitate the fitness and strength of the body.

For instances of low rankers in E to D, for them working out was beneficial and had some benefits, no matter how little.

Depending on one's growth potential, the improvement that could be gained through working out could range from low to extremely good.

In his case, his speed of improvement could be considered between good or extremely good.

Elias had a D+ growth rate efficiency, while he was still E Rank. That means his improvement speed was double the efficiency.

However, D+ growth rate would obviously matter little once he reached D Rank. 

As such, his rapid progress was just a byproduct of his weak rank. Later on, he wouldn't have such rapid progress with just working out.

If everybody could advance by merely working out, then everyone would be king level.

Calmness. Elias took a deep breath. If he keep this progress up, it would only take him a few more sets before advancing another rank.

But his goal was at minimum Rank D, as that was the required rank for enrolling at Arcane Academy. He didn't know if it was possible, but he would try his best.

He wasn't an avid gym person. In his past life, Elias never even gone to gym and just worked out in his house for daily exercise.

After resting for some time, Elias stood up once again and began another set of workouts.

On the corner, the five subordinates watched quietly, as though acting as guards.

Watching Elias work hard tirelessly, Galilei praised.

"The young master has changed. He's working hard. I wonder what sparked the change in him? Young master never worked this hard before..."

Alexus nodded with a smile of his own.

"Well, he's the son of the Godfather for a reason. I told you it would only be a matter of time before he changes."

However, as soon as he said that, the others turned silent and turned tense, as though the air around them froze.

Alexus was about to ask why before realizing it himself, his eyes similarly turning distant and empty.

The mere mention of the Godfather made them remember of the tragedy that occured a couple of weeks ago.

On a night of a full moon, torrents of tinted red blood rained, filling the underworld of tragedy as the second great war took place. 

No one could've expected it. At that time, they were away from the Godfather and were attending the young master and young miss

But then...

On the night of a full moon, a member of their family suddenly bursted into the young master's abode and informed them of what happened.

A war took place.

They were about to join in the war, however what the member said at his last words stopped them…

The Godfather issued a request to the five of them, 'I trust you five to protect my son. No matter what. Don't go here. In my order.'

That stopped them, in spite of their desire to join. 

Collectively, all five of them felt sorrow and anger in recalling the past. 

The Godfather was a person that inspired extreme admiration, he was the one there for everyone, no matter what. It wasn't an exaggeration to say they would've preferred to die by his side than to be imprisoned.

Taurus clenched his first and spoke.

"...We should've returned at that time."

Junior sighed and retorted calmly.

"And what? Die alongside the Godfather? I would've preferred that but… we have to follow his orders and protect the young master."

That made Taurus turn silent.

"But.. we failed him in the end, didn't we?"

Suddenly, Alexus whispered while looking at his surroundings vacantly.

Although it was a whisper, the four of them heard it clearly. To that, they couldn't help but to turn silent as well.

That was right.

They were assigned to protect the young master, but in the end…

They failed as they were captured and thrown into prison, slowly rotting in silence.

Galilei cleared his throat before breaking the silence.

"The Godfather wouldn't appreciate us wallowing like garbage. He would scold us for sure."

Andolinio Castellano was the type of man to toughen everything up. He was a man of action. The thought of wallowing in grief wouldn't cross him at all.

To his words, Donato nodded before saying.

"...Right. There's nothing we can do but protect the young master. Even if we escape this place, the young master would be in danger."

Junior eyes turned cold as he replied.

"That's right. Instead, let's bid for time. When we finally escape… we can achieve our revenge."

To that, all of them agreed to his words. No matter how long, they swear they would avenge the Godfather and their fallen family.

No matter what.

***

After a while, Elias finished his sets and was fully drenched in sweat as he panted heavily on the bench.

His whole body was sore while all of his muscles ached from pain from the intense session.

However, despite that, his lips were curled into a smile.

Looking at the system interface in front of him, Elias couldn't help but widen his smile.

[Name: Elias Vito Castellano (Elias Roan)

[Race: Human]

[Talent: Indomitable Spirit (Not In Effect)]

[Rank: D- (E+)]

[Level: 22]

[Unused status points: 500]

[STR: D- (21/200) (E+)]

[AGI: D- (18/200) (E+)]

[STA: D- (25/200) (E+)]

[CONST: D- (26/200) (E+)]

[INT: E (70/100)]

[MAG: E- (43/100)]

[GROWTH: D+ (0/200)]

[SKILLS: [Way of Castellano (Technique)], [Ferocious Underdog(Passive)], [Gaze of Intimidation (Passive)]...]

After tirelessly working himself out for three more hours, his attributes finally broke through the bottleneck.

He had reached D Rank — in this prison, someone that can protect himself. In society, an average mercenary.

Such a speed could be considered fast and not bad.

However, it wasn't truly unexpected to Elias. As he had said, the original Elias had some talent and resources, he just didn't work hard enough.

It would only be a matter of time before the original Elias advanced, and sure enough, some work out managed to do that.

'So a rank breakthrough to D is 500 status points.'

Elias felt refresh as he advanced a rank.

It was as though his body was reforged into a higher level. He was sure that his mana changed as well, but he couldn't sense it unfortunately.

"Young master, the Courtyard is already closing."

Looking up, Elias saw Galilei and the rest. Only then did he realise that it was already 12:00 PM.

He remembered that he forgot to do the act of theft. 

Nevermind… There's still time. Elias shook his head before nodding to his subordinates.

"Let's go. I want to take a bath before having lunch."