Chapter 8: I need to get stronger!

Jihuun has decided he needs to become stronger. He must strengthen both his mind and his body.

Something worth mentioning about Jihuun is that he is a relatively small 20 year old office worker, he doesn't exactly have everything going for him in terms of size.

That's not to say he lacks strength; he worked in construction for most of his high school days. A couple years of slacking off have weakened him though.

"I have 8 hours to become stronger." Jihuun states triumphantly. "Oh yeah that's right! I get 3 times experience for chlorokinesis at that old man's store! I guess I'll head there first." Jihuun performs his normal routine and decides to teleport in short bursts rather than walk.

As Jihuun is teleporting, he can't help but feel like he's being followed. "Is this the effects of the heightened senses skill I got? I can definitely hear an extra set of footsteps following me." Jihuun thinks. Quickly, he turns to look behind him, and is just barely able to catch a glimpse of someone dart behind a wall.

"I knew something felt off." He thought. "I saw you. Your cover is broken." He yells. Unsurprisingly, no one reveals themselves. "Quit following me." Jihuun states coldly.

Jihuun arrives at the plant store, but not without looking over his shoulder every couple of seconds. He greets the old man and pulls a seat towards himself. He takes a sit and focuses on his chlorokinesis.

Even with it's current rank, it is still hard for Jihuun to completely focus on the plants. Time flies by pretty quickly, and Jihuun's 1 hour timer goes off as if no time had passed at all. "I've been focusing for an hour. It didn't feel like that long." Jihuun remarks. "Let's check on my level. "Chlorokinesis C- 232/750. Upgradeable." "Sick! It went up 2 whole ranks!" Jihuun applauds. "I should continue to meditate. I want to be as powerful as I can for this fight."

After 2 hours of nothing but focusing on his chlorokinesis, the store owner starts to get worried.

"Would you mind if I asked what you're doin' young man?" The store owner asks.

"You don't have to call me 'young man' anymore old dude. My name is Jihuun Kong, but you can just call me Jihuun." Jihuun responds. "To answer your question… Well, I'm using the large concentration of plants in your store to train my powers."

"Train your powers? You must be able to use chlorokinesis like I was!" The owner remarks. "Did I guess right?"

"You got it." Jihuun responds. "I'm currently training my chlorokinesis."

"What a coincidence…" The owner states. "I used to be one of the best chlorokinesis user in all of this city."

"You were?" Jihuun asks curiously. "Then how were you beaten by the mafia boss?"

"What a silly question." The owner scoffs. "That thing is too strong, even for its own good. Like I said, he'd might as well be an alien considerin' his powers. Not to mention his strange appearance… I'm convinced his isn't from this world."

"He overpowered you? That bastard, teaming up on an old man like that." Jihuun snarls.

"Don't be fooled Jihuun, he did it all alone. That's the way he works." The owner recalls. "He either sends someone to do his bidding, or he does it all by himself."

"He must be super strong." Jihuun says with a child-like wonder. "By the way old dude, what's your name? I don't want to keep calling you old."

"The name's Johnny. I was a well-known farmer from where I came from. I decided to move to the city and start a plant shop many years ago." Johnny remarks. "As you can probably tell, things haven't been too great the past few years."

"I see. Strange how we've known each other for a few days and didn't even introduce ourselves!" Jihuun laughs. "By the way, did I leave my giant aloe plant here by chance?"

"You most certainly did… I was wonderin' why it was just sitting in the middle of my store," Johnny replies. "I moved it into the back."

"Alright, I'll grab it and then go," Jihuun chirps. "I've got some important training to do."

Jihuun walks into the back of the store and absorbs the aloe plant using his vortex. "Giant aloe plant added to stash." "Now, where is somewhere I can go to train my telekinesis…" Jihuun thinks. "Ooh, I know! I'll just keep on growing my aloe plant so it gets super heavy!"

Jihuun travels to a remote location in a nearby forest and summons his giant aloe plant in a clearing. He focuses on increasing the size of the plant. It isn't nearly as difficult now that he did all that training.

After about 10 minutes straight of growing the plant, it is monstrously big. The top of the plant almost reaches to the leaves of the trees! "Alright, this should be enough." Jihuun says. He stares at the plant and narrows his eyes. He points out his hand and tries to lift the ginormous plant. "Oouhf! This is really heavy, even for my telekinesis!" He grunts.

Jihuun manages to lift the enormous plant a couple inches off of the ground but loses focus and drops it. Even at a couple inches off the ground, he can feel the earth tremble slightly.

"I'm going to be here for a while if I want to get stronger. Maybe I get more experience if I juggle multiple objects at once." He thinks. Scratching his stubble, Jihuun searches around him for a suitable object to juggle. "It's no good, nothing around here would work…" Jihuun sighs.

Just as Jihuun was about to lose all hope, the system came to the rescue. "Attention: requirements for a hidden mission have been met." "Daily mission: I need to get stronger!" "Daily mission? I didn't know missions like that existed."

Taking a quick glance at the new mission, he realizes just how hard it could prove to be.

Daily mission: I need to get stronger!

'Complete the following by the end of the day (7pm). Reward: Ticket box (Extra rewards will be issued if significant overflow occurs.) (+Hidden reward)

-Run 0km/1km

-Meditate 2hrs/1hr

-Squats 0/100

-Push-ups 0/100

-Pull-ups 0/100

-Abdominal Plank 0mins/10mins

'Failure to complete will result in a penalty'

"Huh?! Isn't this a little too difficult? I can barely do any of that stuff!" Jihuun shrieks. "I don't want to find out what that penalty is though… How much time do I have left?" Jihuun wonders.

Looking at his watch, the time reads 11:43 Am. "Just over 7 hours! I'll have to start this soon if I want to complete it with time to spare…" Jihuun mumbles.

After nearly passing out, Jihuun manages to finish the single kilometer run. "If that was the easiest one, I may just keel over!" Jihuun gasps. He checks the time, and he was right. Time is slowly running out! 12:13 PM. "I'm just going to have to solider through this. I'm dying to see what the reward is!"

Jihuun decides he'll save the planks for last, maybe they'll be a bit easier to finish off. He not so eagerly starts on his squats. Jihuun soon comes to discover that they aren't as easy as he thought they were-- after only 20 squats, his legs were starting to burn fiercely.

"Only 80 more…" He thinks.

Slowly, he completes the squats, and as he struggles to finish the last one, a satisfying ping emits from the screen.

"That's one less to do." He sighs, breath shaking. His clothes are soaked from all of his sweat.

After 2 more hours of torture, he finally finishes all of the exercises. At this point, his clothes are but a rag meant to absorb his sweat; they are completely drenched!

Jihuun lies on the grass in the clearing. His hands are red and dirty pulsing from doing pull-ups on a rough tree branch and doing push-ups on the grass. As Jihuun is wallowing in pain on the ground, he is startled by a voice that emerges from the surrounding darkness of the forest.

"What an interesting display." The voice echoes.