"Four hundred twenty-seven… four hundred twenty-eight… four hundred twenty-nine…"
Inside Meinze Fitness, Noah Vale continued his squats while William Smith watched from the side with growing disbelief.
Noah's legs trembled violently.
Based on previous experience, he knew he was approaching the absolute limit of his endurance. At most, he could probably manage ten more repetitions before collapsing.
But today was different.
Inside his body, two thin strands of internal energy circulated quietly.
When his muscles began to fail, Noah directed that energy downward, guiding it through his body and into his legs.
The fatigue faded almost instantly.
It works.
Excitement flickered through his mind.
The manual's explanation had been correct. Internal energy could be used to replenish stamina.
As he continued squatting, Noah paid close attention to the flow of energy within his body.
Each time the energy completed a full circulation through his system, a small portion dissipated.
After one full cycle, roughly a tenth of his reserves disappeared.
That meant he could repeat the process several more times before the energy ran out completely.
His strength partially restored, Noah pushed through another set.
Twenty more squats.
Once again, his muscles reached failure.
Once again, he guided the internal energy into his legs.
From the outside, the pattern looked bizarre.
Smith watched in stunned silence as Noah's movement slowed to a crawl—then suddenly sped up again, only to slow down once more.
The cycle repeated several times.
What is going on with this kid? Smith thought.
At this rate he could apply for a world record.
By now he had lost track of how many times Noah had shocked him since they met.
Eventually, Noah used the final trace of internal energy.
His legs gave out, and he dropped heavily onto the yoga mat.
The system quietly logged the result.
The analysis indicated that intense training at the edge of physical limits produced far greater improvement than normal exercise.
Noah nodded to himself.
His theory had been correct.
If pushing to the limit increased the training effect—and internal energy allowed him to stay in that state longer—then the combination drastically accelerated his progress.
Essentially, he had discovered a way to multiply the results of every workout.
Push to the limit. Recover with internal energy. Repeat.
If he kept doing this until Monday morning, he might be able to raise his core attributes again.
Noah sat cross-legged on the mat and closed his eyes.
While Smith watched in confusion, Noah slowly circulated energy through his body, recovering the reserves he had spent earlier that morning.
Restoring internal energy was far easier than increasing its total capacity.
And because Noah's reserves were still tiny, the recovery process only took a few minutes.
When he finished, he opened his eyes and looked at Smith.
"My legs are shot," he said calmly. "Mind helping me up?"
Smith blinked.
"…What are you planning to do now?"
Noah pointed silently toward the bench press station.
The next several hours followed the same pattern.
Noah rotated through different exercises, pushing his body to the absolute limit every time.
When exhaustion overwhelmed him, he used internal energy to recover just enough stamina to continue.
When the energy finally ran out, he stopped to meditate and restore it.
Then he switched to a new exercise and repeated the cycle.
Gradually, he grew accustomed to the pain.
By nightfall, he was no longer surprised by the sensation of burning muscles and trembling limbs.
Later that evening, after returning home, he continued practicing the Violet Dawn breathing method to increase his internal energy reserves.
The training never stopped.
Eighteen hours later, the system logged a new milestone.
Training Analysis
Your repeated high-intensity squats have increased your endurance potential.
Endurance attribute increased to 1.3.
Twenty-four hours later, another breakthrough appeared.
Training Analysis
Sustained resistance training has improved your strength potential.
Strength attribute increased to 1.4.
By the twenty-seventh hour without sleep, Noah was completely exhausted.
Yet his focus remained sharp.
Standing in front of a punch-testing machine inside the gym, he drew a deep breath and threw a perfectly controlled straight punch.
The impact exploded through the room.
The machine's display numbers climbed rapidly.
200…
300…
400…
500…
600…
Finally, the screen stopped.
672 pounds.
Smith stared at the display.
"Oh my God…"
"That's impossible."
"That's above the world record."
At the same moment, a cool sensation spread through Noah's mind.
He didn't even need to check the panel.
His mental attribute had increased again.
Still, he opened the interface.
Name: Noah ValeAge: 18Estimated Lifespan: 120
Strength: 1.4Endurance: 1.3Mind: 1.4Charisma: 1.4
Unassigned Attribute Points: 0.5
Noah stared thoughtfully at the numbers.
So 1.4 strength already surpasses normal human limits.
That realization surprised him.
When his strength had been 1.2, he couldn't produce even half that punch force.
Yet an increase of just 0.2 had more than doubled his performance.
Clearly the attributes didn't scale linearly.
Over the past two days, Noah had also discovered several hidden details about the system.
Strength wasn't just raw muscle power.
It also affected movement speed.
Endurance influenced recovery, bodily resilience, and even how quickly he could learn energy circulation techniques.
Mind controlled far more than mental stamina—it affected reaction speed, focus, memory, perception, and learning ability.
One discovery in particular stood out.
When his endurance increased earlier, the time required to generate internal energy had decreased dramatically.
Now he could produce a new thread of energy in roughly fifteen minutes.
According to the annotations left by The Noble Blade, that level of efficiency belonged to exceptionally gifted practitioners.
There was another curious effect as well.
Training one part of his body seemed to strengthen everything.
For example, squats didn't just improve his legs—they gradually increased the strength of his entire body.
It was as if every system inside him was interconnected.
Noah leaned back thoughtfully.
This panel still has a lot of secrets.
He almost wished it came with a manual.
Finally, he turned to Smith.
"That's enough for today."
"Tomorrow's Monday. I have school, so I probably won't get here until after classes."
Smith nodded quickly.
"…Got it."
Watching Noah's rapid improvement had left the trainer deeply unsettled.
Part of him wondered if Noah might be a mutant.
And mutants were not exactly welcomed by society.
For a brief moment, Smith had even considered reporting him.
But the thought faded quickly.
Noah was a paying client.
And honestly?
Watching his training routine was the easiest paycheck Smith had ever earned.
No reason to get involved in something complicated.
After leaving the gym, Noah walked home through the streets of New York City.
Physically, he felt better than ever.
Mentally, his energy surged after the latest breakthrough.
Pure physical training no longer satisfied him.
A few new ideas had begun forming in his mind.
And he was eager to test them.