Training(1/4)

He was visibly shaken by the event. A normal boy who until a few hours ago was peacefully walking on a street in his previous world, now was with his hands on a sword, and a dead corpse lied next to him as the pool of blood expanded by the second.

[Reward for Host's first kill:100SP(System Points)]

This notification brought his frustrated laugh to a stop. He felt many emotions that at the moment he wasn't able to understand. He felt a strange emptiness for killing a being with a human-like appearance, but at the same time he was relieved, as if he didn't do so, the one in a pool of blood would've been him.

Aware now of the notification he gained 100 System points, Ethan chose to first concentrate on what was important for his own survival.

["Light, can you tell me about the [Shop] Function?"]

To this question, there was a little of delay, even if he couldn't know what was happening, the System was filtrating trillions of items to assign to each part of the shop. Even so, in just over a second, Light responded.

[The Shop has a variety of things, from simple skills, to the best version of equipment in the entire universe, or even things from the planet you originated. I was just filtering all the impurity Items and converting most of them in a version suited for your compression. For now, there is the Equipment Section, The Skills Section and the Utility Section. For now host is recommended to use these three]

Her exhaustive explanation put Ethan deep in thought. He knew skills weren't something easy to obtain at all, but Light was telling him he could obtain whatever skill he wanted, given enough SP to afford it.

["So, for example if I want [Liaris Freese], can it be bought even if Bell Cranel is the person in possession of that skill?"]

He obviously wanted the skill. Even if he remembered Hestia speculated if you were aware of the skill the latter's effect would be lower, he didn't care at all about that, as his parameters would still sky-rocket the moment he would feel strong emotions, and he believed it was impossible he wouldn't feel them during his time in this world.

[Yes. It's possible for you to buy the special skill [Liaris Freese] even if Bell Cranel is the actual owner of the skill, the thing restraining you is the cost. An innate cost at least one hundred times the cost of a normal skill, and with the points you own you can't afford even the weakest skill in the shop.]

Ethan could understand her clearly. The time needed to obtain that skill would probably range the years, and meanwhile he would just have to become stronger without that skill...

'Still, it can greatly improve my strength, be it now or in the future. I'll try to collect as many System points as possible..'

Knowing now it wasn't the moment to think so far away about the future though, Ethan shifted his focus on more pressing matters...

'For now, I need to train my body to an extent, otherwise no God will take me in their familia.'

He still didn't know about who would take him in their familia, but he certainly didn't want to end searching desperately for a familia like Bell Cranel...

But his thoughts were interrupted by the system, or to be more precise, Light. The latter in fact was listening to his thoughts, so he didn't miss his 'request' for training. So, before he was able to think further, a panel appeared in front of him.

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//Optional Quest Triggered//

[Work Hard Today, Harder than Yesterday]

Rank: H

Objective: Run (0/10Km), Do (0/50) Squats, (0/50) Sit-Ups, (0/50) Push Ups before 12AM

Failure Conditions: Work out not completed before 0AM, Death.

Penalty: N/A

Rewards: 1000SP

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Analysing the quest in details, Ethan didn't know if 1000 SP were a large amount of SP or not, but thinking he obtained only 100SP for an important event like his first kill in this world, Ethan could understand the rewards weren't that bad.

'I would need 10 first kills to obtain 1000SP, but such a thing is impossible.'

He thought it wasn't bad as a reward, but what surprised him were the words Light spoke as she gave him a detailed explanation of the quest.

[This quest is optional and it can be done everyday, you can even double or triple the amount of this workout but the SP will be doubled or tripled only if you complete all the work out in the same day. Understood?]

'I see. Such an interesting thing is actually possible!'

He was happy about this since obtain 2000 to 3000 SP in a day were no joke for him. He still didn't know how he will need to use them but one thing was clear, the System points were one of the most important thing he needed.

With this new quest, Ethan decided to not waste anymore time as his training officially begun.

First he started with 10 kilometers run. In his previous world he didn't do any sort of training, so running 10 kilometers all of a sudden was really tiring for him. After the first kilometer in fact, Ethan felt tired as his breath was even more heavy than when he fighted with the goblin to the death...

There were downsides to openly running though. The forest he was in was filled with goblins, and Ethan was fortunate it seemed no other monster was in sight, as with his [Qienta's blessing] he could frighten the goblin enough that they avoided him.

After stopping to rest for a while, Ethan continued running as his objective was to complete the run, but after almost the 2nd kilometer, he saw the monsters habitating the forest were different, in fact he could his run was halted the moment he saw kobods walking around, probably searching for prey.

'It seems I was in an area of the forest inhabited only by goblins, but it is not the only race that inhabits the whole forest...'

The forest was big enough to be separated in various areas. The area Ethan was sent to was the easiest to survive in, as only goblins were around but obviously, there were other areas with stronger monsters.

'It's safer if I delimit the area where only goblins can be found, and when I'm stronger I'll think about facing the kobolds and whatever is after them...'

His thought was only obvious. Kobolds were too dangerous in his state as he lacked parameters, as well as any form of training needed to face a monster.

Turning around, Ethan evaded gaining the monsters' attention as he fleed back towards the cave.

Once he returned back to his starting point, Ethan had still a few kilometers to run, so he used his first run to best delimit as far as the area expanded where only goblins could be found to roam in search of some animal as prey.

After he completed his 10 kilometers run between breaks every 1 kilometer, he was wrapped in sweet and his breathing was really heavy, many times more than when he faced the goblin. The moment his training quest showed he completed the 10 kilometers, Ethan's legs gave out, and he was temporarily unable to move...

But this wasn't obviously enough to stop him as few minutes after, with his heavy steps he reached the cave once again. He first took another break as it was still in the afternoon, so there was time before the day would end.

'Right, I haven't had lunch yet'

He certainly couldn't eat the goblin's meat as even glancing at it disgusted him a little, but he had no strength left to hunt either.

'I have 100SP, can I use them to eat something? I wonder'

The moment he asked this question, Light opened for him the system shop as there were plenty of food he could eat with the amount of SP he had...

Looking for the lowest kind of 'food' the shop had, he found something that piqued his interest.

'This [Earnest Volcano's meat] costs only 10SP, yet it's the cheapest in the shop..'

It made him think for a while, but in the end he had to survive and had no time to properly hunt, so the only thing he could do was buying it.

The meat didn't have an appearance exactly similar to the meat he was used to see, but even though it was the case, Ethan believed the system would've told him if there was something off about it, but from the looks of it, it seemed it could be eaten without the need to worry, so he decided to not waste anymore time.

'...I...It's tasty!'

He never felt such a strange sensation. The meat was really juicy and soft, even if it seemed so tough from looks alone. He could feel the tastiness of the latter pervading his mouth and in no time, his 10 SP meat was already in his stomach.

Even if he thought for a while it may be just the fact he didn't ate anything yet to drive him, he easily understood it wasn't the case and that the meat was really tasty.

'If a 10SP meat can be so tasty, I wonder what kind of things will I be able to eat if I spend more on food...'

These were his thoughts, but he knew he couldn't spend all his SP on meat, so he chose to ignore these thoughts as in no time at all, he felt his stomach was full after he ate another piece of the same meat.

Now having to train again, Ethan chose the 50 Sit-Ups as a starting point. Even if he had very little experience regarding gym training, he at least knew how to do a sit-up properly, or at least that's what he believed.

He sat on the hard floor of the cave as he felt the energy constantly permeating his body, as the food he ate not only served to replenish his energy, but also to boost his morale.

It was quite difficult for Ethan to even do 5 sit-ups one after the other without resting for some second, but he still didn't back down, even if he felt really tired he continued his training slowly as he had plenty of time to complete it, and it was never mentioned he had to do everything without resting...

Once he was miracolously done with the sit-ups, Ethan took a longer break before passing on the squats. He felt his body was growing tired and tired even if he took a longer break, but there was nothing he could do about it if not doing another squat after the other.

It was the hardest thing Ethan even did, but if this was enough for him to grow stronger, he didn't care about his tiredness at all...

Once done the squats as well, Ethan knew it wasn't wise to eat during training, so he chose to search for water instead, but what he found out the shop didn't have water, or to be more precise it had water, but the only thing he could find were strange spells using water as the main cast, occulting what he really wanted...

Knowing it would take eons to find water in this list, Ethan put aside the thought of drinking water as he firstly had to finish his training, otherwise he was worried the day would pass without him finishing the training, as he could see from the entrance of the cave it was dawn.

'Now the push ups..'

It was the last part of the training he had left, and he knew it wouldn't be easy to do. His body was really tired, and the force needed may be more than what he had at the moment, but even so he wouldn't give up..

After only the first push up though, Ethan felt the force in his arms and legs leaving him the more he tried to attempt another push up. His body, even if slowly being powered up by the training, couldn't keep up with both the stress of training while strenghtening himself, causing him to feel at the very limit of his endurance.

But, he knew now if he rested for every single push up he did, time wouldn't be enough, so he inevitably chose to cut off his 'break' times as he had only a few hours left...

It was incredibly hard to put such a strain on his body that wasn't familiar to this kind of training at all, but for some reason to him unknown, he could now feel, after all the hellish training was finally done, that his body had become incredibly stronger in one go.

He knew if he wasn't in his previous world, such a thing wouldn't be easy to 'feel', but knowing this world was heavily under the influence of numerical values, that it could simply mean his parameters went up...

Glancing at the entrance of the cave, Ethan could see how he was one step from failing his quest...

'It's dangerous to search for a lake right now, I'll search for a source of water tomorrow..'

It was inevitable. Even if his body was now stronger than before, he still couldn't move properly after all that training, so it was better to rest and wait until it was safer to go outside..

He had the option of sleeping on the hard floor, but after training that much, he absolutely wanted to rest on a real bed, possibly a comfortable one..

At his request, the [Shop] opened once again, this time searching for a bed he could afford with his current SP. He could see there were various options to choose from, but he decided to go with a normal futon at the measly cost of 20SP...

The appearance of the item he bought made Ethan smile enthusiastically as it was the very first time he was so happy to see such a common item he would see every night in his previous world.

'Even if with the amount of SP I spent it can only be an average bed, it's still many times better than sleeping on the floor...'

With these thoughts in mind, Ethan was caught by sleepiness as the moment he laid down on the bed, he could feel as if the futon was the most comfortable item he slept on, causing his eyes to immediately feel heavy...

---

The next morning, sounds could be heard coming from within the cave, it was Ethan who was waking up.

'I'm thirsty...'

That were all his thoughts whereas he opened his eyes, finding himself with a ceiling he didn't recognize.

'So it wasn't a dream at all'

Once again, the truth struck deep within him. Yesterday he was dead, was reincarnated by the Goddess he didn't even meet in the world he desired to be in the most, he fought with a goblin and trained so hard he fell asleep the moment he laid down on the futon he bought.

'Right, if I need to hurry and find a source of water, otherwise it will be really bad..'

He thought so, as he knew humans couldn't survive without water for more than three days, and he already spent one day without drinking anything at all.

After willing his body to move from the futon, he could immediately feel something was different.

'Shouldn't I be feeling the effects of lactic acid by now?'

He knew this much as it was rather common for people who never trained to resent the effects of lactic acid for the first weeks of training, and considered what kind of hellish training he just did, Ethan felt weird as he felt he could move his body without the slightest pain or tension.

'Maybe in this world instead of lactic acid parameters are directly increased? I don't understand this at all..'

Even if he had enough knowledge from his previous world to know at least the basics of training, in the danmachi world it seemed the entire concept of training was simply different, or at least that's what he believed...

'..In the end it's better to not feel the effects rather than feeling them, so I guess I can do nothing about it..'

Evading complicated thoughts, Ethan returned his focus on his need for water as, after standing up, he hurriedly went in the forest.

He chose to not go for the same route he used for running since he didn't found any lake in that direction, so he went to the opposite one, believing there would be a source for water near. Fortunately, after a bit of exploration, he found a lake near his cave. He didn't see it from the moment he was thrown in this world exactly because the area he explored was the exact opposite of the direction he went now, and since he also had no time to do a detailed search, the result was the lack of information....

Having access to the lake, Ethan didn't hesitate in buying a [Bucket] at the merely cost of 2SP after confirming the water was actually drinkable. Firstly drinking enough to satiate his thirst, Ethan then proceed to fill the Bucket and stored it in his Inventory while paying attention to his surroundings as if there were monsters nearby, he would use his [Qienta's Blessing] to scare them away.

Even if he didn't open the [Inventory] yet, mostly because he didn't have anything stored in it, Ethan didn't pay any attention to the details as it was more important to return to the cave, determined to finish his [Optional Quest] for the Day. This because he could already feel the difference from yesterday, so he wanted to first become strong enough to not have threats near his cave, and after that he would gradually explore the areas close to his cave to obtain as more strength as possible.

Although he didn't check yesterday because he was too tired to, now Ethan checked the quest he completed yesterday, confirming he had it again for the day.

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//Optional Quest Completed//

[Work Hard Today, Harder than Yesterday]

Rank: H

Objective: Run (10/10Km), Do (50/50) Squats, (50/50) Sit-Ups, (50/50) Push Ups before 0AM

Reward: 1000SP

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After 7 days of training, the differences in Ethan's body were enormous. His rather tiny body without muscles to be shown, now was muscular enough to show them noticeably in areas like arms, legs but especially his chest. He was neither overweight or underweight, but now his body showed clear signs of a person who had trained for years, when in fact only a week had passed.

'As I thought, parameters influence a person's physique as well.'

He didn't expect him to grow such muscles in only a week, but since it was only beneficial and it wasn't like he could understand the precise reason behind it at the moment, he chose to ignore this matter as it was only beneficial if he had more muscles.

After only a few days, Ethan found himself able to sustain the training much better than before, and gradually the time for breaks was shrank more and more until he could complete the whole training smoothly towards the end of his 4th day.

From the 5th day, he decided to test his new strength. Equipped with his sword, he approached a group of goblins as he found even slaying monsters as goblins was incredibly easier than before, although he still had some difficulty considering they were a group while he was all alone, with next to zero experience. Using his [Qienta's Blessing] when he had to run and slaying some monsters to gain some SP, Ethan began to be feared in the goblin area, to the point after the 6th day, the few goblins who weren't newborn already knew it was better to evade him rather than fighting him.

From this 7 days, he understood his body could improve fast even if he didn't have any skill to increase the speed of his growth. When the first days he felt so tired he would almost collapse, Ethan always felt immediately the effects of his training, as if the moment he did it his stamina increased, allowing him to continui training further even if he only two or three days ago couldn't keep up with this training at all.

'It seemed strange the quest was so 'difficult' at the start, it was because I never actually trained, but it seems adventurers here can do much more than that easily.'

If he in only a few days could do what he thought impossible in his previous world for his body, Etham believed others wouldn't be too different from him, even if he knew the world he was in, his standard was Bell Cranel and the adventurers surrounding him after all.

Deciding it was time to check his own parameters, Ethan opened his Status Board for the second time after reincarnating in his world.

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Name: Ethan

Age: 15

Race: Human

Lv 1(+)

Pow: 3I→201G

End: 3I→274G

Dex: 2I→220G

Agi: 4I→190H

Mag: 0I → 100H

Skill: [Qienta's Blessing:SSS]

Magic: -

Development Ability: [(FeatherFoot:(Sealed)](new)

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He was surprised. He couldn't exactly remember how much Bell Cranel gained the first time he entered the dungeon, but he believed his growth was by no means slower than the protagonist's.

'But I don't have such skills, so why my growth was so explosive, maybe the training?'

He had no explanation for this question, but as always, Light showed up to clear his mind from these doubts.

[Your body has special properties even I have no access to. The only thing I know is that this much is normal, so don't worry about it.]

'It seems I will gain no information from Light on this...'

He sighed as he could only appreciate this pleasant growth. If only it could be like this, he felt he didn't even need a growth-related skill, but he knew this wasn't how levels works.

'It will slow down the more I grow, so I guess it's normal to have this kind of start...'

Believing so, Ethan suddenly had a small revelation. He remembered the [Quest] function worked upon his desires, as well as what the Universe wants him to do, so he could try to 'ask' for an harder type of training, and if his theory was right, that training could allow him to advance even faster than now.

Ethan was thinking on a work-out capable of upgrading himself even faster and at the same time have room to spare in the day for huntings, but no matter how long he waited, the [Quest] he wanted never appeared.

---

After 5 minutes, Ethan understood it wouldn't work exactly like that, or maybe the Universe didn't want to give him any more quest for the moment, so he decided his objective would be doing 10x the amount of training without the need to rest, that was what he believed to be a good 'starting' point in this world.

Ethan started again his routine training, believing for today to do at least 4x the normal amount of work-out, but he was interrupted by Light.

[Host, the [Quest] function is a sort of mediator between you and the Universe for what you had to do. The Universe wouldn't give you the same quest twice, but there is a rare case where the normal Option Quest may evolve after you have done it many times, so…keep up the good work.]

Ethan was a little shocked because if he had known this information before he wouldn't have wished in the first place a regime of training that with a few parameters, but there was nothing he could do about it...

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(A/N: I literally spent hours for this chap...so I don't think I will write something else for today D:)

(I have a discord server. https://discord.gg/cpVr5X8 If you enter it, you can choose one of Ethan's future powers from the pool I created, but that's not all! On the server, you can see the reference on some things that will be present in the story! Right now you can freely see some things but I advise you to read the story further before seeing them otherwise you'll get spoilers!)