?For fifty years, since the Awakening, humanity had traded muscle for mana. Why lift a barbell when a Level 1 Strengthen spell gave you the force of ten men? Why run when you could fly?
?This gym wasn't just a room; it was a museum to a dead philosophy. It smelled of rust, stale air, and neglect. There were no high-tech mana-circuit machines here. Just racks of heavy iron plates, dusty benches, and a few pull-up bars.
?"Perfect," Amari whispered.
?He dropped his bag on a bench. Dust flew into the air.
?He wasn't here just to lift weights. Any idiot could lift weights. He was here to Cultivate.
?In his past life, after the Mana God killed the world, the survivors found ancient texts buried in the ruins. They were called the Murim Chronicles. They taught that the human body itself was a universe. You didn't need mana from the outside. You just needed to unlock the energy hiding in your own blood and bones.
?Mana is borrowed energy, Amari thought, pulling a cheap spiral notebook from his bag. Cultivation is self-generated force. If you borrow, you have to pay interest. If you generate, you own it.
?But the human brain is forgetful. Amari knew that if he relied solely on memory, he would make a mistake. One wrong breath could burst a lung.
?He opened the notebook and began to write. He wrote fast, his hand cramping. When he finished the first section, he ripped the page out and stuck it to the mirror with a piece of old tape.
?Then he wrote a second page and ripped that out too.
?He stepped back to look at his work.
?[MANUAL: THE VOID BODY]
[STAGE 1: IRON FOUNDATION]
?Page 1: The Philosophy
- ?Muscle fiber must tear. Bone must crack.
- ?Only when the body is broken will it rebuild itself harder.
- ?Pain is not a warning. Pain is the fuel.
?Page 2: The Breath of Iron
- ?Step 1: Inhale until lungs burn (Force oxygen into blood).
- ?Step 2: Tense every muscle. Do not let the air out.
- ?Step 3: Lift the weight.
- ?Step 4: Visualize the air turning into liquid iron. Push it into the muscle.
?Warning: You will cough blood. This is the weakness leaving the body. But if your vision goes black—STOP. Dead men can't train.
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?Amari took off his shirt. He was skinny. He could see his ribs. His arms were thin wires.
?"Pathetic," he muttered.
?He walked over to the bench press. He slid two 45-pound plates onto the bar. 135 pounds total. In his past life, he could bench press a mountain. Now, this looked heavy.
?He lay down on the bench. He gripped the cold steel bar.
?Step 1, he thought.
?He sucked in air. He kept inhaling until his chest felt tight, like a balloon about to pop.
?Step 2.
?He locked his muscles. He held the breath. His face turned red.
?Step 3.
?He un-racked the bar. It was heavy. His weak arms shook violently. The bar wobbled, threatening to crush his throat. Gravity was fighting him.
?Step 4.
?Amari didn't just push up. He visualized the air in his lungs melting. He imagined it flowing down his shoulders, into his triceps, turning his flesh into steel.
?"Up!" he grunted.
?The bar shot up. It didn't fly; it grinded against gravity, inch by agonizing inch, until it slammed into the top of the rack with a loud CLANG.
?Amari exhaled. A spray of red mist came out with his breath.
?He coughed, wiping a streak of blood from his lip. His chest burned like fire, but his arms... his arms felt hot. Alive.
?[System Alert]
[Bio-Metric Anomaly Detected.]
[Muscle Density: Increasing...]
[Error: No Mana Consumption Found.]
?Amari grinned at the error message. The System didn't know how to categorize gains without magic.
?He didn't stop. He lowered the bar again.
?Inhale. Tense. Push. CLANG.
Inhale. Tense. Push. CLANG.
?He did ten reps. By the tenth one, his vision was blurry. His muscles were screaming. But he could feel it—the tiny, microscopic tears in his muscle fibers weren't just healing; they were fusing together, becoming denser.
?He sat up, gasping for air. Sweat pooled on the floor beneath him. He looked at the mirror, at the ripped page of the manual.
?"Stage One," Amari panted. "Iron Skin."
?He looked at his hand. The skin on his knuckles looked slightly darker, slightly tougher.
?"Hey!"
?A voice echoed from the doorway.
?Amari didn't flinch. He slowly turned his head.
?Standing there was a student. He was huge—at least 6'4". He wore the gold-trimmed uniform of the Hero Class. Behind him, four other students in matching athletic gear crowded into the doorway, snickering and cracking their knuckles.
?The big one smelled of ozone and dry earth. Earth Mage, Amari analyzed.
?"This is the Varsity gym," the big guy said, walking in while his posse fanned out behind him. "Janitors and F-Class aren't allowed to touch the equipment. You're getting sweat on the bench."
?Amari stood up. He picked up his towel and slowly wiped the blood from his mouth.
?"I checked the schedule," Amari said calmly. "The gym is open to all students until 5 PM. It's 4:30."
?The big guy laughed. It wasn't a nice laugh. He walked over until he was towering over Amari. He tapped Amari on the chest with a finger that felt like a stone.
?"I said get out," the guy sneered. "Or I'll use you as a warm-up."
?Amari looked at the finger poking his chest. Then he looked at the manual taped to the mirror.
Page 1: Pain is the fuel.
?He calculated the odds. This was Bronson, a Top 10 Freshman prospect.
?If I fight him here, Amari thought, I lose my anonymity. The Dean will notice. The Hero Class will hunt me.
?But if I run, I lose the gym. And without the gym, I stay weak.
?Amari smiled.
?"You're big," Amari said. "You must have a lot of mana."
?"I am Bronson of House Granite. Top 10 prospect," Bronson bragged, puffing out his chest. "I strengthen my body with Earth Mana. I'm unbreakable."
?"Unbreakable," Amari repeated. "Good. I need a heavy bag."