Luke performed a maxout bench press of 1015 pounds. "15 pounds higher than expected. Good to see your growth was even better than I said you'd get," Shoeberts said. "Not a slacker, are you?"

"I figured you were highballing it to get me excited for where I'd end up. You actually lowballed it, which is crazy to me. Still doesn't feel real, despite doing it just now," Luke responded.

"In the past, and for those without money today, the growth was significantly more gradual than what you were able to get. It used to take multiple years to get where you are, while now, potions can give you effectively a zero-downside weeks' rest between groups of sets and then continue on like you didn't just bench 5 of 5 at 450. No muscle atrophy for doing so, no risk of over training, just pure gains. What the future generations will be able to accomplish will be amazing."

"Assuming we can get there. Fraxions are-"

"Hey, no depressing talk. There's no point, might as well focus on what we can do today, while we're still here. Maybe some hero will come along and start knocking them down left and right, maybe the future generations will figure magic out enough to overcome the enemy. That's for them to figure out and us to help set up. The more we do today, the better the chances for the future. In the past, it was still the same way, just with old age. We've just replaced a hypothetical grim reaper with physical ones."

Luke nodded and made his way over to the next exercise as Rhonda's potion kicked in. "I'm going to do my part as much as I can. Figuring out magic will be the hardest part as I can't even levitate stuff, let alone combat a fraxion."

"I'm certain you will. I've only seen the fires behind your eyes when having these talks in a few people, and every single one has gone on to be great at what they were pursuing," Shoeberts said before they silently went through the rest of the maxouts to see where Luke lie. While not winning any strongman or weightlifting competitions, Luke was far above average in every one thanks to the help of Shoeberts's expertise in crafting training regiments, Rhonda's potions, and Luke's own determination to see his plan through. In the background, All Eyes On You played, making sure they weren't in silence the whole time.

"Are you certain about switching from strength to endurance? We could get you gold medals in basically every weight lifting competition at this rate," Shoeberts broke the relative silence.

"Certain," Luke said, a determination on his face the likes of which Shoeberts had only seen a handful of times before. "As long as I can maintain this level of strength the whole time, or even half of it as I wasn't going into this actually wanting this much strength, not gaining any more will be acceptable. I just need to be able to keep active for hours - potentially days - at a time. I need as much endurance as I can get."

"I don't think you'll be able to actually stay active for days on end, as that's not an easy feat to accomplish, but I can definitely get you marathon-level endurance in the time you'll have. Hopefully more, that mostly depends on how your body reacts to the training. Adversely, and you'll probably not even reach marathon levels. Perfectly, you'll be able to run two or three back-to-back without rest potions."

"I only commissioned 15 rest potions. I read up on the speed advantage they give and they're great, obviously, my own growth in just a few weeks is a testament to that, but the majority of what I've spent my money on is for enhancing my magical ability. I've seen people stronger and faster than me fail. Physical might alone won't be enough, or guns would have carried us to a victory, given enough time."

"...I guess you're not wrong, but still. That's good information to have, for future planning. We'll have you go through a few tests with the rest of your potion to see how your muscles react to the initial endurance exercises, then reassess again in three weeks, as we initially planned. Still a shame to see your potential strength go unattained, even if it was never your goal," Shoeberts said.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Lots of disappointment these last few years. We'll get over it."

Shoeberts wasn't really sure how to react to that and decided to just get on with the testing. He took Luke through several exercises designed to enhance his endurance and some to simply maintain his strength without necessarily increasing it multiple times each, with a sip of rest potion between each. After a few minutes of thought, he wrote Luke a text with the initial plan and diet.

He then said, "Ideally, your body will react perfectly to this and we won't need to make any updates in 3 weeks. Realistically, I see needing a few adjustments. Especially around days you don't have exercise potions available, since you already said you will have them for only a limited time."

"I couldn't over train, could I?"

"Maybe. The week without exercise potion won't be enough to tell, so I'll have to include instructions on what to look for and how to adjust your plan for if, without rest potions, your body reacts a bit more negatively than ideal."

"They're explicitly exercise potions, not rest potions."

"Bah, they have the same end result. I've checked. Sure, they have a bit of difference when used outside the context of exercising, but the narrower use case of exercise potions is really just a way for people to make more money off using less ingredients."

"Really? Rhonda had them on commission for cheaper, actually. Didn't know they had the same effect on the results of exercising, I might see if I can switch over to rest potions so I can stay awake for longer. More time to work on non-exercise improvement. Mainly spellcasting, I haven't really seen any improvement there yet. Though, to be fair, the improvement I must make there is intangible."

"Don't know who Rhonda is, but yeah. Dixon sells exercise potions at 20% more than rest potions, marketing them as more important for athletes to have over rest potions, or even as something to take alongside rest potions. There's no point, there. I wouldn't recommend switching to rest potions, though, if this Rhonda is selling them for cheaper. The actual benefits of rest potions over exercise potions isn't worth the extra price."

"Maybe they would be for Rhonda's potions. They're actually insanely good, especially for their price. If I was buying Dixon, I would probably need triple the number of potions. Rhonda claims I'd need 10 times, but she's obviously bias. I haven't actually done any tests between them to confirm the difference, as I don't have the money or time to spare for that, but they're definitely way more potent than what I've read in Dixon reviews.

"So, the slight increase productivity you'd be used to from rest potions might actually be worth the price, if the potency is still as increased from Dixon to Rhonda. I'll do some research and see what I think."

Shoeberts shrugged as he said, "It's your money, I guess. The change wouldn't affect the exercise plan, anyway, so go ahead, if you think the benefits will be worth the increased price."

"Sounds good to me. I'll get with her for that when I go to get my next potion, assuming I like what I see online."

After a few seconds of silence, Shoeberts got a serious look on his face before saying, "Whatever you end up doing, just make sure you don't give up early. As I said earlier, we all need to play our part in the arena, so the future generations can forge their own paths. Hopefully, by the time it's my turn in the ring, I'll have published a more thorough book on my methods. Something truly made for self-improvement, something to teach the next generation my techniques, rather than the general advice of my original book. To think I published that for just money..."

"Looking back, I regret that book. Nothing useful for any individual, while having only generally useful advice. If I'd just done the job right the first time, maybe we'd already have another personal trainer who could compete with me, something I actively did not want in the past. Age adds perspective, I guess. Or maybe the threat of the reaper is making me introspect a bit more than I used to.

"Regardless, this meeting should be about you and your journey, not time for me to think about myself. As long as you follow the plan I laid out, you should be able to bench 100 for around an hour by our last session."

Luke responded, "It's fine, these invaders won't give us time to split introspection time from work time. That also sounds like a good benchmark. If magic wasn't everywhere, I'd even say unreasonable. As for my goal, I won't give up. If I fail to accomplish my goal, it will be because of my inadequacies, not because I gave up part way. Of that, I'm certain."

Shoeberts clapped his hand on Luke's shoulder as he went past him, out the door. "No one is inadequate. 'Inadequate' people just failed to pursue their potential in time." The door closed behind him before Luke could form a response.

Luke wasn't sure how that made him feel, but he was certain he wouldn't let Shoeberts down, even if he wasn't certain about the ultimate success of his plan. It wasn't something anyone had tried, after all, and he wasn't sure it was actually possible.

But if it was, he was determined to make it happen, to give the future generations as much time as they can to grow into something that could defeat the fraxions.