[ do tell me if you find any problem or if u have any suggestions.]

After arriving home, he faced another problem: he needed to level up fast, but the issue was how. Fortunately, he still had some money left over from the necklace, but it wasn't enough to buy sufficient chickens to advance another level. Even if it were, what then? He could only attempt one more level, and that too with much more pain and, according to the voice, the risk of permanent injury.

But Alexander, being the loser he is, began ruminating on the looks he received today from the teacher and the jealousy-filled eyes of Taker. The feeling was new to him. Before long, stress led him into his fantasies. Of course, most of it was centered around how Ana would be looking at him.

"Go to sleep. From tomorrow, your training starts." But suddenly, a stern voice from Alexander’s mind cut through his fantasies.

"Okay." The sternness of the voice affected Alexander, so he tried clearing his mind and getting to sleep. His body was not fully healed, so it didn't take him long to doze off.

"WAKE UP." A booming voice in Alexander’s mind woke him right up. Like always, the first thing he did was check his phone.

'What the hell, the time was just 5:30 am.' Of course, he had woken up early before, but not like this, especially as he knew he was in for a rough day today.

"Come on, at least let me sleep until 8 am." Alexander pleaded with a frustrated tone.

"Did I not tell you? No questions asked, just do as I say. Or would you rather be average?"

Alexander pouted for a moment or two, but he did get up reluctantly. He finished all his routines by 6:00 am as per the voice's instructions.

After wearing the ugliest clothes he could find in his wardrobe, as per the voice or rather his ancestor, he asked quite dejectedly, “Now what?”

“Now you have to go for a run,” the voice said.

Alexander really, really wanted to say no, that he wanted to sleep or do something else, but remembering he said he would do as said, he reluctantly got up and, wearing a pair of shoes he bought last year, went out for a jog.

Though not a new experience, he enjoyed the jog. Of course, a metropolis as big as this was never asleep, but it was relatively quieter and fresher.

The first few minutes were quite relaxing, and to be honest, Alexander started feeling good and kind of excited. But soon, his legs started cramping up, there was pain in the calves, and Alexander wanted to stop, but the stern voice inside quelled all thoughts of that.

A few more minutes passed, and Alexander could feel his legs turning heavier as if it was putting on weight with every step. But the run had to be continued.

At this point, he was drenched in sweat, every step he took felt like needles pricking his feet, and even the music on his earphone, instead of feeling melodies or energetic, felt like something that was just not fucking ending.

“You can take a rest,” the voice finally said. His tone the hums of saints to Alexander's ear.

Alexander did not think of anything as he sat down almost on the road but later moved to the side. He felt like he was just thrown from hell directly to heaven.

“Now look at your phone.”

Alexander was too happy to comply, but his eyes widened when he saw he had just run for 18 minutes.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“No, the phone is not broken.” Before Alexander could even think, the voice chided him.

“Now you know your limits. Even though you think you can do it, the reality is not that malleable. You can run straight for only 18 minutes, that too after increasing your strength up to 12, which should have improved your stamina somewhat. Your body condition is not as good as you think. Now rest for 5, no, 7 minutes, and then start running again.”

Hearing this, Alexander felt like the weight of the sky just collapsed on him. He could not imagine himself doing all this. Three hours later, at 9 am, he was panting heavily on his back, lying on his bed, his eyes staring at the ceiling.

Mainly, he had to run for one hour, but in his frustration, he took too many breaks just to keep going through the ordeal. Not to mention, at the end, he had to take a taxi to come home as his legs refused to carry him forward, but the voice chided him, saying he was just lazy. He just needed to push on and he would have made it home running.

This was just too much.

Of course, he had to skip university today, for which, of course, his parents chastised him. But according to the voice, this would become the norm from this point forward.

Alexander started to think following this guy’s methods might not be the best of ideas. It didn't take him long to feel asleep just from the sheer exhaustion.

The next day, the routine was the same, but this time, Alexander learned from his mistake and properly timed his running so that by the time he felt like dying, he was back at his house. After all, he did not want to spend money on a taxi every day from the remaining funds from the necklace.

The day after that proceeded much like the previous ones. Nearly a week and a half had passed since Alexander started his running routine, and with each passing day, the voice amplified the challenge, gradually extending the distance. According to the voice, what he had initially done was akin to forceful empowerment. By harnessing a substantial amount of qi, he enabled his current cells to contain more energy than their usual capacity.

It was an ingenious method, albeit with the limitation that it could only be utilized once. To elaborate, the voice likened it to expelling all the excess gunk from Alexander's cells, thereby enhancing their capacity to store energy. However, in reality, it constituted a far more intricate process. It was akin to unlocking one's body's latent, or perhaps ultimate, potential.

But now Alexander had to actually improve his physique. Unfortunately, or rather fortunately, his body was of very poor quality. So for now, to improve his body, he needed to at least reach the point of an athlete, which should give him a huge boost in constitution, allowing him to pile on quite some level. After that, he would have to go through rigorous training to reach the limits of the human body, which should allow him to accept many more levels as well.

When Alexander asked if he could use treasures to reach the limits of the human body instead, the voice said that each time he used a treasure for his body tempering, the next time he would have to use a treasure of higher rank for it to be effective. So it would be better if he goes as far as possible without the use of external force.

Although reluctant, Alexander had to concede; he understood the immense challenge of locating a mid-quality treasure for cultivation, let alone more powerful ones. The rarity was simply too daunting.

Alexander collapsed on his bed, on his back, panting as he was fully drenched. It had been almost 1 and a half weeks of constant effort. He had to admit he had gotten better. Initially, his best record was running 18 minutes without rest, which improved to 25, but that was at the first time; subsequently, it dropped down to 12 minutes by the end of the exercise, which was merely 3 minutes before.

It felt good, but the problem was in this past one and a half weeks he only went to the university once; all the other days, though he said he would go, he came back from the run and told his mother that there was no class or he just went into the library and slept in any dark corner.

At first, it felt a little awkward, but when the lack of sleep kicked in, every hesitation was thrown out of the window.

Just like after every workout, he opened his status window,

Name: Alexander

Race: Human

Level: 4

Exp: 10/220

Strength: 12

*Perception: ___

*Dexterity: ___

*Agility:

*Constitution: 3

*Intelligence:

*Vitality:

Alexander's eyes lit up with joy. He had finally done it; his constitution had reached 3. After all these days of grinding, it paid off.

Though Alexander did not notice it, he was much leaner than before. Not to the point of a visible change, but it was there.

The 10 experience points came from the two chickens he killed, which his father bought at his request for fresh meat in the house after a long time. But it hardly did anything; Alexander just wanted to progress, even if it was just a little.

Alexander really wanted to go to the university, not because he liked it or anything, but remaining absent for this much time was not okay. And now that he got his constitution up, the voice permitted him one day of rest, which he would use here.

But he decided to gain another level before attempting that. The first thing he wanted to do was to kill some chickens or something similar with the money left to gain the level.

But not only did he not have enough money, but also the voice strictly stood against it. According to it, you should always have some money on hand. So, it suggested selling his phone, which was just out of the question.

Then, there were only two options: the first one was to ask for money from his father, and the second one was something daring, exciting, and something Alexander would crap his pants doing.