Even as the day ended, Ryder continued to train. He required less sleep now, meaning he had even more time to train his body.

It was only the first day, but he had already advanced the barbell’s weight to 40 kg on each side.

Combining the nanobots with his enhanced senses felt like a cheat to Ryder since he barely needed to take breaks between his sets.

After getting used to fixing the microtears in his muscles, the nanobots became even more efficient and used less mana than before.

But continuously exercising didn’t only bring benefits, however.

Normally, a person would only spend 1 to 2 hours at the gym before calling it a day. But Ryder spent more than nearly 18 hours exercising during his first day of training!

Putting that into perspective, he spent almost nine times the amount of time a normal person spends at the gym. While that does speed up Ryder’s muscle gain, it also speeds up the time his muscles adapt to the stress of the exercise.

In other words, Ryder was receiving fewer and less microtears the longer he continued his intense training regime. It was like having exponential growth that later fell into stagnation.

Ryder realized this after 3 days of his workout. He was starting to gain less and less muscle gain, and he could no longer feel a visible growth in his power.

Even so, that didn’t mean he hadn’t gained anything during those 2 days.

After his first day of working out, Ryder realized that his muscles were growing at an alarming rate. The nanobots had fixed so many microtears that his fibers had drastically increased in size and number.

His arms became nearly three times as large as they were before, while his legs were still the same size.

This unexpected surge in muscle growth left him concerned, but he was also fascinated at how fast his body grew.

Ryder chuckled as he thought of the time when he went to Brigitte to get a mana recharge and she nearly fainted at the sight of him.

But he knew that having such a large body would put him at a disadvantage. Not only would his speed be affected, but his body would also be a bigger target.

Knowing this, he worked to fix it. First, Ryder commanded the nanobots to increase the density of his muscle fibers, meaning he wanted the mass of the fibers to increase instead of the volume.

That way, the fibers won’t expand but will only grow in weight, something Ryder wanted. Focusing on their quality over size was the key to minimizing the size of his arm and also achieving more strength.

Of course, this process isn’t something that could be completed overnight, so he was stuck with his superhuman physique for now.

Ryder didn’t want to continue training his upper body as it might disrupt the process, so he might as well start on his lower body, something Ryder didn’t like to do.

But he had to as only training his upper body would lead to muscle imbalance, leading to poor posture. Ryder wants to avoid that as it could disrupt his momentum during fights.

Training his lower body will also allow him to increase his speed, which is crucial if he wants to escape from dangerous situations.

Thus, he spent the rest of the day doing squats and deadlifts.

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At the end of the day, Ryder was lying in his bed all washed up and relaxed. He had to wait for the remaining adrenaline in his body to fade away before he could doze off.

He now had three more days till the end of his deadline. But with his newly gained strength, Ryder felt confident in his abilities to successfully escape.

As long as he didn’t run into any high-rank mages or guards, then he should be fine right?

Then, Ryder started to think about Brigitte and Kade, who he considered his first friends in this world. What would happen to them after he escaped from the lab?

He was worried that Dr. Krugal would go after them since they were closely associated with him.

But as he was thinking about this, a wave of fatigue overcame him and Ryder slowly slumbered off into sleep.

Just like that, Ryder spent the next days training until it was the night before the deadline. He didn’t want to wait till tomorrow since Dr. Krugal would be coming for him and it would be too late to escape by then.

Ryder also didn’t want Brigitte and Kade to worry about his disappearance so he sent them a letter beforehand talking about his situation. He also gave back the weight runes to Kade as he had promised.

He placed down the barbell he had been squatting with and took a look at his body for a fitness check. His arms had shrunk compared to before, but it was still twice as big as his initial size. His legs have also gained muscle, just not as much as his arms.

‘It’s time.’ Ryder thought to himself.

First, he needed to obtain a keycard before anything else.

The only way he could think of doing so without raising attention was to silently ambush someone from the upper echelon, and Ryder already had someone in mind.

It was the person who came to deliver Dr. Krugal’s message to him. He still hasn’t forgotten the humiliation he had received and was ready to pay it back.

Officials from the upper echelon were almost always residing in the main chamber of the lab, the place where Ryder went to he met Dr. Krugal for the second time. That meant the person also had to be there.

He roughly knew its location since Brigitte had led him there first during his tour and also when they were trying to escape from the hybrid outbreak.

Since it was almost dinner time, Ryder assumed that the officials were eating in the main chamber, so chances of noticing him creeping by might be lowered.

Testing out his new speed, Ryder quickly navigated his way around the corridors. As it was dinner time, there were barely any researchers walking by.

He noticed that his speed had almost increased by three-fold, a significant increase compared to his initial state.

But with no one to compare to, Ryder had no idea if he was considered fast or not. Ryder recalled the time when he was saved by the mage during the hybrid outbreak.

He wasn’t sure if he could dodge the magic spell that was shot instantly. Its speed was comparable to that of a gun.

Since Ryder was considerably faster than before, it didn’t take long before he reached the entrance to the main chamber.

There wasn’t a security door at the entrance, so Ryder could go in whenever he wanted. But ordinary researchers weren’t allowed to go in unless they were summoned.

The main chamber was just a place for the higher ups to converse and share their research with one another and it didn’t contain any valuable contents or objects.

But this was perfect for Ryder since he wasn’t after any information but rather the people inside.

Peering through the entrance with his enhanced vision, he found most of the officials inside talking in the lounge located on the right side of the chamber.

Ryder planned to use the nanobots to scan each official individually until it matched the person in his memory. Thus, he shifted his position quietly until he had a clear angle on every individual’s face.

Some wore masks while others had long hair, so it was hard to scan their faces. But the man Ryder was looking for had none of such features. He remembered the man having a bob cut and glasses, which should single him out.

Finally, Ryder spotted him talking to Dr. Krugal with a flattering expression, a complete contrast to the face he showed Ryder when he first met him.

‘Must be someone buttering up to Dr. Krugal for some benefits.’ Ryder felt disgusted at that attitude. He had his fair share of people flattering him in his previous life for his achievements. He just couldn’t get used to their fake smiles and predatory eyes.

Now that he identified his target, Ryder looked for the keycard on the man’s body. It wasn’t difficult to locate, as it was just a yellow card hanging around his neck.

All of the other individuals in the lounge also had it, but only Dr. Krugal and a few other individuals had green cards.

‘They must be in a higher position.’ Ryder thought to himself.

Stuck in his crouching position, he could only wait till the group of higher ups finished eating and retired for the day.