44 Time skip

The next day quickly came by. Johnathan woke up very early in the morning and went down to the lobby for training. The two went by fast. During their training, they did nothing new.

They started off by laps, then they went to either the weights or started sparring each other. Once again, Johnathan lost to both Emma and Ivan. He wasn't surprised or upset, though. It wasn't like he'd overcome them in skill after one training session. But he did, however, notice he got slightly better with timing his hits.

After sparring, he went to the weights area. He paired up with Ivan once again and they started going through the different activities. Johnathan pushed himself even harder than yesterday, wasn't even in the mood to eat after the first workout of the day. However, he knew that to gain back his energy, eating a good meal would help.

Like yesterday, he ate breakfast with Ivan and Danny. The rest of the people he ate with yesterday weren't there, but a familiar face replaced them. Ivan and Danny sat right in front of Johnathan and Emma, who accepted Johnathan's invitation. After a good hearty breakfast, the group split up. Johnathan went upstairs and noticed Ash sleeping. Deciding against waking him up, he silently sat on the ground and started meditating. After an hour or two of meditating, he stood up and brought Ash down to eat something. The two talked to Emma, who was sitting at a table reading a book. When Ash finished eating, the two left and went back up. Johnathan then started meditating once again for two hours before practicing his new technique.

The day quickly passed, and before he knew it, it was time for training again. Like yesterday, Johnathan used the Deagle to practice with.

The two hours passed quickly and after it, Johnathan grabbed Ash and ate dinner with him.

Like that, the day passed by.

The next day was the same. Wake up, train with Ivan and Emma, have breakfast with them, meditate, bring Ash down to eat, talk with Emma, meditate, work on mastering the technique, train, come back upstairs for Ash, eat dinner, meditate and finally sleep.

The next day was the same and so was the day after.

——-week2————-

The next week started off the same. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. He did nothing but train, eat, and talk with his friends. The only thing that might've changed was that his muscles showed a little. It wasn't too noticeable, but if you looked hard enough, you could see a slight difference.

——week 3———-

The third week was the same as the second week. The only thing that changed was Johnathan and Emma becoming closer. The two would meet a lot more throughout the week without Ash or Ivan, and Danny. They mostly talked about what they would like to do if the word became normal again and other than that, they just joked around.

—— one month————

By the end of the month, quite a few things changed. Johnathan, Ivan, Danny, Emma, and a few others were well above the rest in the training camp. So they were given special treatment. From better food to nice clothes and even a couch and an enormous bed. They weren't complaining, but the same couldn't be said for the others. They knew the reason, but they couldn't help hit voice their complaints.

They were told they could leave, but they didn't. They saw how people who did hard labor jobs were. Grumpy and exhausted.

But how and why did Johnathan and the rest get special treatment? It couldn't just be because they ate more crystals. The reason was that the sergeant got an order from his higher-ups to ask if any of the participants had abilities. The people who didn't eat enough crystals looked confused but those who raised their hands. Five hands were raised. Emma being one of them. Seeing that they raised their hands with no thought, Johnathan, Ivan and Danny raised theirs.

They were told to show their abilities, so each went, one by one. One could stretch his arms and legs, another could buff his arm up, the third could summon a tornado.

Looking at the guy who summoned a tornado, Johnathan squinted his eyes. 'He has a wonderful ability he thought. The man who did this was of Indian descent. He had medium-length black hair tied in a man bun and had a well-groomed beard.

'His name was George, I believe.'

The person after him was nothing special. She was a short girl with spiky green hair. It was unusual, but it sort of made sense when she used her ability. She grew her hair and started shipping it around.

After her, it was Danny's turn. Following Johnathan's plan to downplay their abilities, he only showed his left hand. The hand without the elbow blade.

Then came Ivan. He showed his lightning, and since he couldn't downplay that too much, he showed them a weak lightning shot.

The sergeant was impressed nonetheless and told the next person to go. Emma did as she was told and stepped forward. Putting her hand forwards, she created an arrow made of ice.

The sergeant clapped. "Wonderful ability. Amazing."

He then told the last person to go. Johnathan stepped forward and activated his time stop. Stopping time for a split second, he sprinted towards.

He then stopped his ability and tapped the sergeant's shoulder. He turned around and looked at Johnathan with widened eyes. "What's your ability? Super speed?"

"Short ranged teleportation."

"Magnificent."

From that moment, those eight started getting special treatment.

Other than that Johnathan mana hard to purify his core by a good amount. His core was at the cusp of breaking through. There were cracks on it with some red shining through. Signifying how close his breakthrough was. Because of this, Johnathan was ecstatic.

—- the second month—-

During the second month, Johnathan finally broke through. His core was finally deep red. With this breakthrough, Johnathan's mana reserve increased a lot. Because of this, Johnathan increased the time he spent using his abilities.

He had enough mana now to keep time stopped for five seconds. That was a whole 2.5 second increase. Not only did his time stop increase, but his slowed down perception did as well. The duration he could use it doubled. Johnathan also felt like things became even slower when using it.

Johnathan had also finally won the majority of his spars for the first time. Because of how hard he was working and also the crystals he ate, his body adapted faster which helped him lose weight. He has slimmed down a lot and grew just as much muscle. But he was still far from that Greek body he wanted.

Due to him slimming down and his body becoming more athletic, he could react faster and even hit harder. This lead him to win a sparring match against Emma. Although he lost against Ivan, he was still very close to finishing him.

Other than getting stronger, the only thing exciting that happened was the military providing zombies for the 'awakened' to fight against and show their battle prowess.

As stated before, only the 'awakened' got the privilege to fight zombies.

Awakened were people who ate a crystal. This included people who ate only one and those who have their abilities already.

This led to Johnathan being able to practice not only his time stop and slowed down perception but using guns as well. However, he had to make sure to only use time stop to move around. If he actually killed a zombie during time stop, the military would doubt he had a teleportation ability.

The last thing that happened in the month was something that surprised many people. Not because it wasn't expected, but because of how fast it came to be. Organizations. Crime syndicates. Hero organizations. People wanting to either play the hero or villain started popping up. Since it was only the beginning of these organizations, nothing really happened. But Johnathan had a feeling these 'peaceful' times wouldn't last much longer.

Like that the second month ended.

—— the third month——/

The third month was by far the most enjoyable. First off, Johnathan purified his core further, brightening the red color. However, just one month wasn't enough to move his core to the next stage. Still, with his drive and determination, it was bound to happen soon.

Johnathan had also finally got his dream body. Standing in front of a mirror, he saw a boy standing at 6ft 2, with short black hair, piercing hazel eyes, and a muscular body. Since he spent more time working on weights and cardio than calisthenics, he didn't have that slim swimmer-type body.

But Johnathan wasn't too built either. He had the perfect mix of both, which led him to win even more fights during his morning spars.

Throughout the month, Johnathan started sparring with other people. He wanted to see how he matched against people less experienced with martial arts. Although he started winning more against Ivan and even won one against Emma, the years of experience they had with martial arts weren't easy to overcome. Especially in three months.

Not only that, but they weren't just sitting around. The two had continued to grow and get even better, leaving Johnathan little room to overcome them. 'Unless I had some time chamber, I doubt I can catch up to them anytime soon.'

Those were his thoughts on the matter. But even though he knew he wasn't able to reach their level in martial arts, he didn't get depressed. Nor did he get mad. The reason was that he understood that if they were in an actual fight, he would win easily. Ice and lightning were not superior to his ability. And martial arts made no difference when he activated either of his Time-related abilities.

Talking about abilities, Johnathan mastered slowed-down perception. Mastering it wasn't hard once Johnathan found the correct amount of mana needed to move his body fast enough to keep up with his vision. After he did that, all he needed to do was to use it during a fight. And the military providing zombies for them to fight and kill helped with that.

Also, Johnathan and Emma got a lot closer. They were together most of the time. Seeing this, Danny and Ivan gave them space. They weren't idiots and could obviously tell Johnathan had a crush on Emma. However, they also knew that they had a pretty large age gap. All they could really do was wish for them the best.

Considering it had only been three months, Johnathan had improved by leaps. Not only was he now fit. He also reached the next step with his core and mastered his abilities. Johnathan had also gotten frighteningly good with a Deagle. Although he still missed, he was confident to have 100% accuracy within ten meters.

However, Johnathan wasn't the only one to improve. Ivan and Danny had also grown a lot. Danny and Ivan reached the red core stage a little after Johnathan. Reaching this stage led to Ivan being able to shoot twice the amount of lightning. Danny, however, received something different. His right arm also now had the elbow blade. He also got a small strength boost on top of it.

Unlike Ivan and Johnathan, Danny thought he had no need for a weapon. So he used his time wisely and mastered using his elbow blades. It was difficult at the start but he got used to it quickly enough.

Ivan, unlike Johnathan, used a sword instead of a gun. The army had some lying around and because they thought it would help ability users; they put them out on display, ready for anyone to take. At first, many used them instead of guns because of the cool factor. However, they realized it wouldn't help them and that guns would help them survive longer. Only three people stuck with them. Ivan was one of them.

This was because a gun would limit his ability. He could use his lightning mana on a gun and make the bullet shoot faster, but that took way too long. The amount of concentration he needed to do it once was already too much. So he used a sword instead.

Since the sergeant wasn't a swords master, Ivan was forced to use a sword based on instinct. This lead to a frustrating time but by the end of the third month, he was comfortable swinging it around.

Other than that Ivan and Danny got physically stronger and even taller. They were finally above average, standing about 5ft 9.

They weren't 'midgets' anymore, as Johnathan liked to call them.

Overall the three months were very beneficial. They got stronger and formed connections. Their next step was to take back their world.

However, they quickly realized that it was nothing more than the military's pipe dream. The third month was the month everything changed for the second time. The organizations that were silent started making noise. Especially the chaotic ones.

Johnathan didn't know what direction the world was heading in but he knew one thing. 'I don't want to be a bystander in this. I want to be at the top of the food chain!'

It was a new world. And with his ability, nothing stood in his way. He threw away his past mediocre self and resolved himself to be the best. To be someone who stood at the top.

This is his story. And this was the first proper step towards someone whose name would be heard all throughout.