Testing

*Justin POV*

The last week has been fun and exciting. I could see my improvement was apparent. I could easily handle 10s of me before the training with ease. I didn't expect myself to improve so fast. Because while working out at the gym I didn't get this kind of increase in strength.

Today as usual I got to the gym after waking up. I went to the treadmill to test my speed limit. I didn't have much time last week to check my limits. I didn't get to exercise because I had to sleep extra after every sparing session.

I set the machine to my previous best (65km/hr or 40 mi/hr). I ran at the speed for a minute but didn't feel any stress. So I continued to increase the speed as I ran.

70 km/hr

75 km/hr

80km/hr

85 km/hr

At this point I feel my legs stress a little bit so I reduced the increase rate and did a slow increase. The maximum speed I could run now was 90 km/hr or 56 mi/hr. This is the best I could do for now. I wanted to test my stamina, so I kept running at the same speed.

I felt like flying at this point. I ran fast and I didn't feel any exhaustion at this point. I felt slightly exhausted at the half an hour break. I truly felt my legs strain a lot at 45 minute mark. And about a 5 minutes into the hour's time I was complete gassed out.

I stopped the machine and wheezed on the floor. It was exhausting to run at the top speed for so long. I laid there for 10 minutes. I felt a little better. I went to the kitchen and grabbed some electrolytes and gulped them.

I rested for 10 more minutes and I already felt a lot better. I went to the weight lifting machine and did the dead lift. I just wanted to know the highest amount of weight that I could lift.

Same as the previous time I set the machine in my previous record (630 kg or 1389 lbs). I lifted it without any trouble. The machine I'm using is a electrical system with hydraulic mechanics. We can just adjust weights according to our wish.

I increase it by 100 kg every time I try. First I tried 700 kg lifted it easily. It wasn't a problem. So I continued to increase it.

800, 900, 1000- no problem. I could lift 1 ton with ease. This came to me as a shock. But for now I wanted to test my limit. So kept on going. 1100, 1200 seeing that I had no difficulty I started to increase it by 200 kg every time.

1400, 1600, 1800, 2000, 2200, 2400, 2600 at this point I felt myself straining a bit. Then I started increasing the weight 50 kgs each time.

The maximum I could lift was 2785 kg or 6140 lbs. Almost 3 tons. 'Damn, I love this.' I can improve fast only due to fights and sparing. Have been doing last week. I relaxed for a bit and went ear the metal Pillar( it's structure is cylindrical).

I removed the pad that was there to prevent injuring myself. I looked at the ragged and dented surface. The previous owner didn't keep this for show. I searched for a relatively smooth spot.

I wanted to test my strength with this steel pillar. I clocked my fist and stood in the position. I mustered my full strength and punched the pillar.

"Ding"

The result was a defeating sound that sounded like a metal pounding against another metal. As soon as the punch landed on the pillar I felt my fist collide and push back the metal a bit. Because I used my whole strength my fist dented the pillar.

I first looked at my hand as it was hurting a bit. I looked at my fist, it was bleeding in the knuckles area. The skin at the area was scratched and I felt a little pain in my bones. Then I looked at the pillar. It had the impression of my fist. It was a 2 inch indentation which was a lot deeper than any other in this pillar.

I looked at the pillar and felt good about myself and my improvement. As I was done with the testing I went on and continued to exercise. I increased the weights to the limits for everything I did.

I was utterly exhausted in the end. Then I rested for a bit and wanted to get ready to do my job.

I got ready and went to cafeteria to eat my breakfast. In the past week I brewed two more wine. The first is the "tipsy" which was according to the recipe provided. It was quiet challenging as the quantity was enormous. This quantity would satisfy the need of half year long. The complete process takes about 1 month to brew and the rest is left to aging.

According to the recipe the best time for aging is 3 months minimum. But the barrel is usually opened only after a year. It's a premium wine here. So finer the wine is more it can be sold for. So they let it age a bit and sell them for a profit.

The second is the modified recipe that I created after adjusting the "tipsy". Its quantity was less. I estimated it be about to barrels worth.

Today I'm going to check everything and do the routine work. The brewery capacity reached its limit so the only job is to check and maintain everything.

After the breakfast I went to the bar to check up on Arora as she was injured as badly as me. But I doubt she would have recovered today.

I entered the bar and only found Komiko and some other bartender. I looked at kimiko and waved my hand. She returned her greeting by waving her hand back.

I went to the counter to ask about Arora.

"Hey komiko, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine, how are you doing? You don't seemed like injured at all unlike someone else." She said with a worry smile.

"I heal a bit faster from my injuries. Is Arora okay? How is she doing?" I asked her. I looked at her face which still had the same worry smile. 'She is worried about Arora, huh.'

"She is fine for the most parts. She is not severely injured but she will be taking a 2 day break from work."

"Can I visit her? I can bring some fruits and wine for her."

"No, don't go to her. Atleast for now." She was flustered initially but sighed at the end. "She is a bit down as you became as strong as her in a week. It's a bit of a blow to her. If you show up to her without any injuries I think she will start chasing you with her sword."

"Yeah, sure. I'll leave her alone." I fumbled and continued. "I don't think I can defeat her while she is wielding her sword yet."

"'Yet' huh. If she hears this she will cry. I think she can overcome this, you don't have to worry about this. So what are you going to do today?" She asked curiously.

"I don't know, just the usual, I guess. I have no one to practice with so I'll just work on other things-" I stopped and looked at komiko. To which she shivered a little. It looked funny but I had an idea.

"Can you teach me how to use blasters and the hot weapons you know how to use?"

She looked a little hesitant but looked at me and nodded her head.

"Sure, but we can't practise in your gym. We have to go to a gun range."

"Sure, it's fine. We can go to the gun range for training."

"Okay then, but you have to pay for both of us, if you want me to train you. Is that okay with you?" She asked with a mischievous smile.

"So how much does it costs?" I asked curiously. Will it be costly?

"It's not much. Just 15 credits for a single session, which is about 3 hours. If it's more than one person you have to pay an extra 10 credits for each person."

Hmm, it's not costly, if only it's a one time thing. But I'm going there for training, I don't know how long will it take for me to wield the weapons there proficiently. But there is no choice. I want to learn them for now.

"It's fine. I'll pay. It's for my sake anyway. Thank you for accepting Komiko."

"Don't need to thank me. I'm doing this to see how fast you are going to learn."

I didn't mind her reason. I just nodded to her words.

"I have to go. I'll meet you at 18:00 in the bar. Does that sound good?"

She just nodded and said , "Hmm. Okay then. See you later."

*10 hours later*

I am waiting for Komiko to finish with her shift. Today's work was not that difficult as I finished them in 6 hours. So I just came to the bar and started talking with some of the people in the bar to get to know them.

Some of them were okay to talk to. But some of them outright said me to f*ck off. Well good thing is I got some contacts. I expressed them that I want to spar with them. At first they thought I was challenging them but I said to them that I was learning how to fight and I want to fight different people.

There is a catch. They want to bet 100 credits each. The winner takes it all. Then we talked about the rules for the fight. No hot weapons. Just cold weapons or no weapon depends on the fighters. The first to admit defeat is the loser. That's it. No other rules.

I said I'll contact them in two weeks as I was not fully ready. I want Arora to train me in sword fighting. I want to learn weapon fighting as there are lot of strong weapons in this universe. I want to be a versatile melee combatant who can use different weapons.

The most important thing is I want to fight Arora without any weapons as she uses her sword. I know it's not a easy task but I can't depend a lot on weapons. My body has the potential to be the strongest and I don't want to waste its potential depending on some powerful weapon.

I'll use weapons in life threatening situation or for convenience. Other than that my fist is going to be my weapon.

As I was thinking about these things Komiko just walked out of the staff room. She then walked towards me.

"Justin, are you ready?"

"Yeah, let's go."