Alex slowly stood up, and as soon as he did, his eyes widened.

Alex looked down at his body with wonder.

'My muscles, they feel fine!' Alex thought with shock.

Alex moved his body around and did some light, basic exercises to test his body.

Sure enough, he felt completely fine!

It was like he hadn't just trained for four hours!

As Alex looked at his body with shock, the realization that this world was nothing like this previous one really set in for the first time.

Alex had done enough sports on earth to know exactly how he should be feeling right now.

Yet, not even the slightest feeling of weakness was present.

'The feeling of weakness while doing the workout comes from the built-up lactic acid, but after such a long resting period, the lactic acid has already vanished. The feeling of weakness after that comes from the small, torn muscle fibers.'

'So, since this feeling isn't present, does it mean that my muscle fibers have already healed?' Alex thought with surprise.

'Have I already gone through the recovery phase?!'

Alex tried to comprehend his current situation.

He was even more shocked by this revelation than when he had seen the giant hedgehog.

Why?

Because Alex knew exactly how insane this was.

Alex remembered a gaming term from his past life.

This was broken!

'So, I can literally give my entire body several workouts each day?'

However, Alex's feeling of shock and exhilaration quickly vanished.

Why?

Because Alex's mind was going to a dangerous place.

'Theoretically, the more damaged the muscle, the stronger it will become. The problem on earth is that the recovery period for such damage would be so long that it wouldn't be nearly as efficient as training normally.'

'But here?'

'I'm not even sure if the power increase comes from the workout or the absorbed Mana. It could be that I only need to damage my muscles to make them absorb more Mana. I might not need to do actual, traditional training.'

Alex's eyes focused on his left arm, and he felt a complex mix of feelings.

Anticipation, nervousness, fear, curiosity, greed.

Was Alex a normal human?

When living in a normal environment, sure, he could be called normal.

However, if he would remain normal while being flung into a new world, the God wouldn't have chosen him to enter his world.

After all, that would have been boring.

The entire reason why Alex was supposed to grow powerful in a non-traditional way was entertainment.

The God wanted to be entertained.

So, obviously, the God wouldn't have chosen a boring person.

Alex glanced at his left arm several times with a complex expression.

His heart rate increased as he became more nervous.

'I need to try it!' Alex thought with gritted teeth.

With that, the decision had been made.

Alex would damage the muscles in his left arm to such a degree that it would be considered an injury on earth.

'This is going to hurt like hell!' Alex thought with narrowed eyes.

Splash!

Alex left his tree and let himself fall onto the wet floor.

Then, he just stayed there for half a minute, motionless.

After half a minute, he turned to a different spot.

This weird procedure continued for nearly half an hour.

Half an hour later, Alex felt incredibly cold.

His teeth were chattering as the sensations of his body became numb.

Alex slowly turned over.

And then, he violently pushed with his left arm using all his strength!

Alex had decided to lower the temperature of his body and go all out without warming up.

He would train his left arm with all his power immediately!

No sane person would do this on earth.

Why?

Because it was way harder for muscles to stay flexible while they were cold. If the muscle fibers weren't flexible, they would tear way quicker and in greater quantity.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ It didn't even take a full minute for Alex's "technique" to show results.

A burning sting of pain shot through Alex's left biceps as it violently cramped up.

However, Alex was used to cramps, and he managed to continue pushing his left arm far past its limits.

Just a minute later, Alex had to stop as he held his left arm in severe pain.

He had probably torn a huge part of his left biceps.

Yet, Alex wasn't done.

A mad glint appeared in Alex's eyes as he wanted to go even further.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Alex balled his right hand into a fist and violently beat up his left biceps.

Ten seconds later, Alex stopped as he only gasped for air.

Alex knew exactly how long something like this would take to heal on earth.

'Something like this would probably take four to six weeks to heal on earth. I hope it doesn't take that long to heal here because the pain is driving me crazy!'

Alex held his left biceps as he walked over to his tree.

Then, he sat down and tried to meditate.

It was far harder to enter meditation since he was in severe pain, but after an hour, he managed to connect with the Mana again.

Alex felt his left biceps cool down from the hot pain, and the pain also slowly receded into the background. However, the pain was still there.

Alex concentrated on the Mana in the air until he no longer felt the warm sensation on his left biceps.

Then, he opened his eyes and moved his left arm.

As Alex saw the result, another complex mix of emotions appeared in his mind.

Disbelief, exhilaration, fear.

Why disbelief?

Because his biceps had fully healed!

Why exhilaration?

Because this meant that Alex could gain power at a terrifying rate!

Why fear?

Because this meant that Alex had to go through an insane amount of pain!

Alex knew exactly what this meant.

Training would transform from an enjoyable exercise into pure torture.

There would be no more fun in training.

Training would be full of pain, nothing else.

Alex knew that he could still continue training normally. Like this, he would still enjoy the process while growing more powerful.

Yet, Alex also knew that this choice wasn't really a choice.

Now that Alex had been in this world for over a day, an urge had appeared inside of him.

Alex had seen several creatures that could kill him easily.

Alex didn't want to die.

Additionally, the God had said that Alex could reach insane amounts of power.

On earth, physical power was useful for staying healthy and earning money.

But here, everything revolved around it.

Intelligence wasn't the most important thing.

Connections weren't the most important thing.

Money wasn't the most important thing.

Influence wasn't the most important thing.

Power was!

Alex had seen the God's power when he had summoned the previous Mage Emperor and when he had changed the very reality in his hall.

It didn't matter how many people attacked him.

It didn't matter what weapons everyone used.

In front of this God, all of these things became useless.

Alex knew that there was a possibility that he could become just as powerful as the God.

What would that mean?

Freedom!

Power!

Everything that he wanted!

Nothing in the entire world would be able to stop him!

He could do whatever he wanted without any repercussions and without any worries!

Today, Alex had truly awakened his undying thirst for power.

He had to become powerful!

Nothing was more important than power!

Nothing!

After steeling his resolve, Alex climbed up his tree.

After he reached a height of a couple of meters, Alex gritted his teeth.

Then, he jumped down.

As long as his bones didn't break, everything would be fine!

BANG!