Ron stared at Rock Lee’s outfit with undisguised distaste.
Reigen’s suit and wig had not exactly been fashionable either, but at least they had fit the atmosphere when he went to negotiate with a lawyer.
This green jumpsuit and bowl cut, on the other hand, were in a league of their own.
‘If I walk around town dressed like this, will the Magic Council get complaints about me disturbing the peace?’
Ron glanced at the card’s abilities, then closed his eyes and slapped both cheeks with his hands.
What was he doing, turning his nose up at Rock Lee when he knew perfectly well how weak he was?
Pride meant nothing.
Strength was what mattered.
Ron drew a deep breath and opened his eyes again, his resolve restored.
With a thought, the [Rock Lee] character card dissolved into light and merged with his body.
[Character card equipped successfully.
Current Roles: 1/1.]
[Time Remaining: 2 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes.]
[Current Roleplay Completion: 1%.]
Ron nodded.
Well, that settled it.
Now that the card was equipped, there was no turning back.
He immediately began getting into character, assuming a ready stance as he shook out his arms and legs.
“All right.
To portray Lee perfectly, I’ll head back to the flea market.”
Ron frowned.
Something about that did not sound right.
He thought for a moment, then his eyes lit up as he realized what was missing.
“I know!
I have to frog-jump all the way there!”
…
Something very strange happened in Magnolia that day.
After changing into a new outfit at the flea market, Ron appeared on the streets in a form that anyone unfortunate enough to witness would remember for the rest of their life.
“Two hundred twenty…
two hundred twenty-one…
two hundred twenty-two…”
A bizarre child wearing a skintight green jumpsuit, with white bandages wrapped around his hands and legs, was frog-jumping down the street toward the theatre tent.
A bowl-cut wig sat on his head, while two thick strips of black paper had been stuck over his eyebrows to imitate Rock Lee’s famous brows.
The wig had not absorbed any sweat, but Ron’s delicate young face was already covered in it.
Even the paper eyebrows were soaked through.
With every frog jump, they flapped up and down.
Every passerby who saw him widened their eyes in disbelief.
“Mom, that person is—”
A curious child pointed at Ron, only for the adult beside him to quickly lower his hand.
“Be good, sweetheart.
Don’t copy what he’s doing…”
The mother grabbed her son and hurried away, afraid that if he watched too carefully, he might decide to imitate Ron.
The strangest part was that Ron did not look miserable at all.
Despite the sweat pouring down his face, he kept smiling brightly.
The combination made everyone instinctively give him a wide berth.
Ron noticed none of their staring or whispered comments.
He had completely immersed himself in his performance art and automatically filtered out everything happening around him.
‘Rock Lee’s card gives me incredible stamina!
And my recovery speed is ridiculous!’
Whenever the frog jumps exhausted him, Ron stopped where he was and rested.
Amazingly, ten minutes was enough for his body to recover almost completely.
The fatigue did not build up either.
After every break, his back no longer hurt, his legs stopped aching, and he felt energetic enough to begin all over again.
Reigen’s card had granted him D-rank Basic Martial Arts, but that had only made him slightly better at fighting than an ordinary person.
It had provided no real boost to his stamina or endurance.
Rock Lee’s first two abilities, however, both enhanced his physical resilience.
Stacked together, they produced this absurd recovery rate.
After repeating the cycle several times, Ron found that he could perform more consecutive frog jumps with each attempt, and the steady improvement kept him thoroughly entertained.
“Two hundred ninety-eight…
two hundred ninety-nine…
three hundred!”
His legs were so weak and sore that he could no longer hold a proper squat.
He placed both hands on the ground to keep himself balanced.
Ron remained in that position, gasping heavily, yet he could not stop smiling.
“I finally…
managed…
one hundred frog jumps in a row…”
Taking the opportunity to rest, he checked his progress.
[Current Roleplay Completion: 36%.]
A C-rank character card possessed three abilities, which unlocked in sequence at thirty-three, sixty-seven, and one hundred percent completion.
According to the system, if Ron settled the card immediately, he could permanently retain the first ability.
He had previously been torn between choosing Basic Taijutsu and the Eight Gates.
Now, however, it seemed he only needed to train Basic Taijutsu himself during these three days.
Then he could use his reward to select the Eight Gates!
Ron was confident that he could at least develop an E-rank foundation in taijutsu before the card expired.
That would be enough.
He stood and stretched his legs again, trying to ease the lingering soreness.
“All right, that’s enough resting.
Time to continue.”
Ron lowered himself into position and leaped forward once more.
“Three hundred one…
three hundred two…
three hundred three…”
Under the horrified attention of Magnolia’s residents, he continued repeating the same tedious movement as he made his way through town.
When Ron finally reached the theatre tent, Wes stared at him in stunned silence for quite some time.
He simply could not understand why his young director was always dressed in such bizarre costumes.
Once Ron explained that this was a character from a new play and that he was trying to understand the role’s mindset, admiration filled Wes’s eyes again.
The young director cared so deeply about the troupe that he had invented an entirely new method of improving his acting!
After Wes helped Ron with several problems he had encountered while writing the script, Ron left again without showing the slightest fatigue—this time hopping away on one leg.
Wes watched his retreating figure and sighed in admiration.
His young director truly possessed incredible discipline.
Director White would surely be overjoyed to see how hard his son was working!
Countless people saw Ron’s behavior on the streets that day.
His strange performance art appeared in one corner of Magnolia after another.
As stories spread from street to street, the townspeople eventually reached a common conclusion.
[Young Director Ron of the Pure White Theatre Troupe had suffered a terrible shock after inheriting the business, being defrauded by a legal office, and then betrayed by his own performers.]
[Judging by his current mental state, the poor child had apparently gone insane!]
…
[Current Roleplay Completion: 75%.]
Time continued to pass as Ron carried out one training exercise after another throughout Magnolia.
Before long, night quietly descended.
Thud!
Thud!
“One hundred one…
one hundred two…”
On the outskirts of town, Ron repeatedly drove his fists forward.
Thud!
Thud!
“One hundred eleven…
one hundred twelve…”
Every punch struck the bark of the tree in front of him.
The thick trunk had endured more than a hundred blows, yet only a small patch of bark had been scraped away.
The tree itself had not moved in the slightest.
Ron remained undeterred and continued punching until something changed in the depths of the forest.
“Help me!”
A cry echoed through the trees and reached Ron’s ears.
His eyes widened.
He stopped punching and turned toward the sound with a frown.
Was someone in danger?
And judging by that voice…
was it a woman?