He continued traveling for the next 30 minutes, covering over a hundred kilometers. This time, his route wasn’t in a straight line; he had to make several detours to avoid infected humans and animals, which were more numerous here than near the Bastion.
Finally, he reached a quiet area with no infected in sight. He entered a house and checked each room to ensure it was clear of zombies.
Once he was certain the house was secure, he barricaded himself in a bathroom in the basement. Opening his backpack, he was relieved to see that the syringes were intact. ‘I thought the syringes might have shattered with all the movement I made during my escape from the Bastion.’
‘Recovering the serum from broken syringes and drinking it would’ve been a mess... and probably less effective. Luckily, these syringes are built tough. Still, I really need to get an inventory system after I leave this world—it’d be useful in practically every situation.’
He took out a syringe filled with blue liquid labeled “Tier 1 Serum.” “Well, no time like the present,” he murmured, injecting the serum into his arm.
A warm sensation spread through his body, but it remained tolerable. After only a minute, the feeling faded.
[Your body has fully absorbed the Tier 1 Serum. +10 in all physical stats.]
Five minutes later
[Your body has fully absorbed the Tier 2 Serum. +20 in all physical stats.]
Ten minutes later
[Your body has fully absorbed the Tier 3 Serum. +40 in all physical stats.]
Thirty minutes later
[Your body has fully absorbed the Tier 4 Serum. +80 in all physical stats.]
One hour later
[Your body has fully absorbed the Tier 5 Serum. +160 in all physical stats.]
By the time he finished absorbing all five serums, he received a quest completion notification.
[Quest: Peak Body completed.
Reward: 4K LP]
He looked at his new status
“Status”
[Name: Mikael Angelini
Race: Human (Aedris World)
Lifespan: 21/99
Overall Power: Tier 1
Military Rank: Recruit 0/10 MP
Global Level Tier 1 Race Level: 10/50
Experience: 1,5K/91K XP
Class: Sword Master
Level: 26/50
Experience: 17,5K/18.2K XP
Stats:
Strength: 88 → 103 → 423
Agility: 100 (MAX) → 156 → 476
Endurance: 89 → 104 → 424
Vitality: 100 (MAX) → 128 → 448
Perception: 100(MAX) → 127 → 447
Active Skills: None
Active/Passive Skills:
Body Refining Technique: Tier 0, Level 3
Passive Skills:
Unarmed Martial Arts Mastery: Tier 0, Level 1 → 2
Footwork Mastery: Tier 0, Level 2 → 3
6th Sense: Tier 0, Level 1 → 2
Swordsmanship Mastery: Tier 0, Level 3 → 5 (MAX)
Life Points (LP): (+7110) 7220]
"Damn," he murmured. ‘No wonder I was at a disadvantage against Aaliyah when just taking the five serums gave me 320 in all physical stats.’
Mikael looked down at his fist, clenching it and feeling the power coursing through his body. The scene might’ve been a lot more epic if his shirt weren’t in tatters from all the bullets he’d taken…
He took a step forward.
Crack
The wooden floor under his foot split from the sheer force of his movement. ‘Alright, my control over my own strength has seriously gone downhill. I can barely walk without breaking the floor I’m more like an elephant walking than a human.’
‘Now that I think about it, it kind of makes sense. I suddenly got three or even four times stronger than before, so using the same amount of strength as I did earlier is bound to have a different outcome. I’ll need to stay here to adapt, because this is ridiculous.’
Mikael spent some time practicing basic tasks—walking, opening doors, other “simple” activities. These were normally effortless, but by the time he’d achieved decent control, the house was in ruins. The door handles were mangled, and the floor looked like a minefield.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
He then stepped outside to test his maximum speed. Positioning himself, he launched like a rocket, kicking up dust from his high-speed takeoff.
As he picked up speed, he felt the wind hammering against him, which significantly slowed him down. But he pushed harder, going faster and faster, until he broke the sound barrier!
Of course, Mikael didn’t hear the sonic boom himself, since he was moving faster than sound. But when he stopped a few seconds later, he heard the delayed, thunderous crack of the sound barrier breaking behind him.
A smirk crossed Mikael’s face. ‘With my new stats, I should be able to lift around 4 tons, run faster than sound, withstand high-caliber bullets, heal broken bones within hours, and let’s not forget that my senses are downright ridiculous.’
‘I can see tens of kilometers away, and all my other senses are just as heightened. Fortunately, my senses are “magical” enough that I can control their intensity. Otherwise, having my taste and smell heightened 400 times over could get… inconvenient.’
Finished with his thoughts, Mikael entered a random house, waited for five minutes, then left this world.
When he appeared in the Hub, it was even more bustling than the last time. Thanks to his enhanced senses, he overheard parts of several conversations.
“For the military missions, are you planning to do them?” asked a male voice.
“Yeah, I’m determined to. We can’t compete with the monsters at the top of the level leaderboard, so our best chance is to perform well on the Military leaderboard. That way, Guilds will scout us, and we can get fame and riches,” replied an excited female voice.
He caught snippets of other conversations about military missions and the military leaderboard. What captured his attention was the mention of Guilds. ‘So there are Guilds on Earth that pay to recruit famous and strong players? I don’t really see the appeal of joining them when I can travel to different worlds through the Records. Compared to that, what’s the value of money?’
While he was lost in thought, he received several notifications.
[Military Missions are now unlocked. The first mission will begin in exactly 23 hours, 07 minutes, and 03 seconds. If you want to participate, please register. Yes / No]
[The Military leaderboard will open when the first person completes a military mission.]
‘No wonder everyone’s talking about these Military missions; it seems they’re a new feature.’
He mentally asked, “Records, can you provide more details on these military missions?”
[Military Missions
Description: These are special missions issued by the Records. By accepting these missions, you will be transported to a world with other natives from Earth. Missions vary greatly, and you’ll receive a description just before entering the world, at which point you can choose to accept or refuse it.
In the mission world, all the usual Records rules are deactivated, and anything is allowed. You may only leave the mission world when the mission is completed. The mission you receive will be based on your stats, but you can opt for a more challenging mission if you find it too easy. However, you cannot select missions meant for players with lower stats than yours.
Rewards: Upon completing a mission, you’ll be graded, which determines the number of Military Points you earn, also influenced by the mission’s difficulty. Once you’ve accumulated enough Military Points, you can upgrade your Military Rank, which grants various benefits, including a basic reduction in all LP costs.]
He raised an eyebrow at the mission details, then decided to return to his apartment to change and think in a quieter environment. His tattered shirt and physique caught the occasional glance from some women.
He had a fit body with well-defined abs—six-pack visible. Before joining the Records, he only had a hint of definition, but with all the training he’d done recently, combined with his new race's physical enhancements, had made the abs a reality.
In any case, he ignored the looks and headed up the stairs to his apartment. There, he took a shower and changed into fresh clothes.
After his shower, he lay on his bed, reflecting. ‘These Military Missions… They sound nice, especially with the LP cost reduction on anything that uses LP. But I doubt the reduction will be significant.’
‘I’m guessing it’ll be something small, like 1%, and even if it’s higher—say, 10%—it’s still too risky. My body’s strong, but my enemies, whether humans or other beings, won’t necessarily rely on physical attacks.’
‘If they use mind or soul attacks, I could be taken down instantly. And even if they don’t have access to these type of attack and can instead wield magic or similar energies, things could still go south fast since I don’t have any energy unlocked yet. Hell, I don’t even have access to the spiritual stats system.’
‘So yeah, I won’t participate in the missions, at least until I have some kind of energy I can actually use. Right now, the risks are just too high. My body is strong enough; what I really need now is access to some form of energy—like mana, aura, qi, or life force.’
‘These are what will really help me grow. For example, if I wanted to destroy a city block with just my physical strength, my stats would need to be insanely high. I don’t know the exact number, but maybe around 100K—and that might even be too low.’
‘I’d need my body to be that powerful so that my punches would produce shockwaves strong enough to level multiple buildings at once. In comparison, with magic, I’d still need to be strong, but I could just cast a wide-area spell, and the job would be done.’
After reaching this conclusion, he began to check the System Shop for upgrades that would help him in his quest to become even stronger.
[Spiritual Stats System. Requirement: Basic Stats System
Unlock the spiritual stats. Them being intelligence, spirit, and energy. Price: 1,2K LP]
[Inventory System. Requirement: None
The user will gain an inventory that will allow him to stock items in a pocket space of 10m3. In the pocket space, the time is frozen. If the user wants he can have a list of all the items in his inventory and he can take them out with just a thought. Price 2K LP]
[Basic Background System. Requirement: None
Allow to create a background in the world you will be exploring at the cost of LP. The background could be for example: You were from a well-off family but 3 years ago when you were 13 your parents died and you started living alone, now you are ready to become an adventurer since you have the minimum age of 16. Price 2,5K LP]
He chose to buy all three systems, which brought his remaining LP down to 1,520. Right after completing the purchases, he braced himself for the usual pain that came with unlocking new stats.
But this time, there was no pain. Instead, he felt strange—in a good way. His head felt light, and a warm, comforting sensation spread through his entire being.
The feeling lasted for about five minutes before fading. Mikael thought to himself, ‘First time I actually feel good while doing something that’s supposed to make me stronger.’
Even after the sensation disappeared, he felt as if a barrier around his mind had broken. His thoughts were clearer and seemed to flow faster. But as he’d read in the stat descriptions, he hadn’t suddenly become twice as smart—just a minor improvement. Still curious, he decided to check his stats.
“Status ”
[...
Stats:
Strength: 423
Agility: 476
Endurance: 424
Vitality: 448
Perception: 447
Intelligence: 11 → 21
Spirit: 11 → 21
Energy: No Energy unlocked for the moment
…]
‘Now that’s a good step forward. I can move on to a world where I can unlock an energy type! Normally, I’d rest, but with my high stats, I’m not even remotely tired.’
‘The only issue is Kiara… I think I’ll be in the other world for a while, so I don’t know how she’ll react to my prolonged absence. Sure, I don’t owe her an explanation, but she’s clearly infatuated with me, and I’m not sure how she’ll handle not hearing from me.’
He mulled over this problem for a bit before deciding, ‘I’ll send her a message through the Records to let her know it’ll be a while until we see each other again.’