I was running through a park about thirty minutes away from the apartment where I was staying.
Since it was still early, the park was almost empty. Morning light filtered through the trees, casting long shadows across the walking path, while drops of dew on the leaves glimmered faintly.
There were only a few other people out for a morning run and some using the park as a shortcut.
I liked that.
I didn’t want to run somewhere crowded, convince myself that everyone was staring at me, and get irritated.
Although a few people had looked at me so far.
That was probably because my face, hair, and black tracksuit looked so good together. As much as I hated to admit it, I looked great.
Damn it.
Focus on running.
My shoes struck the stone path in a steady rhythm.
I checked the stopwatch on my phone.
40:17
I had been running without stopping for roughly forty minutes.
My forehead and neck were lightly covered in sweat. My tracksuit was beginning to stick to my back, and the muscles in my legs ached a little more with every step.
Even so, I was doing much better than expected.
There was nothing in Noctis’s memories that suggested the last time this body had done any serious exercise. His idea of physical activity consisted of bending down to pick up something that had fallen during a stream and changing between cosplay outfits.
Considering this body’s condition, I should have collapsed beside the path by now, half-conscious and soaked in sweat while waiting for someone to help me.
Yet I was still running.
My breathing had quickened, but it remained under control. My legs hurt, though the pain eased shortly whenever I slowed down.
White Snake had to be working.
I didn’t think the ability was directly making me stronger. Instead, it was probably repairing the minor damage forming in my strained muscles faster than normal and making it easier for me to recover.
From that perspective, I was satisfied with the results.
But...
"System, show me my stats."
A bluish window opened at the edge of my vision.
[Identity: Noctis Evernight]
[Strength: 10]
[Agility: 10]
[Stamina: 10]
My expression fell.
"Still?"
Not even a single point had increased.
The system had told me that I could improve my stats through physical activity during the early stages. My current situation suggested that wasn’t entirely true.
I had run for forty minutes and used up this lazy body’s yearly allowance of physical activity in a single morning.
All I had received in return was a sweaty back and two aching legs.
"Are you sure you weren’t lying to me?"
[The information provided is accurate.]
"Then why aren’t my stats increasing?"
[Stats do not increase directly with every action performed.]
[The body must surpass its current limits, and the resulting improvement must become permanent.]
I frowned.
"So I need to run more."
[Yes.]
"You could have told me that from the beginning."
[You did not ask.]
I gritted my teeth.
If this system ever gained a physical body, the first thing I would do was strangle it.
I rounded the gentle curve ahead on the running path.
"I’ll make it an hour," I muttered. "If it still doesn’t work, I’ll try something else."
The stopwatch continued counting.
44:03
"System."
[Strength: 10]
[Agility: 10]
[Stamina: 10]
"Tch."
I kept running.
47:26
"Show me again."
[Strength: 10]
[Agility: 10]
[Stamina: 10]
"Fucking thing..."
An old man passing beside me gave me a strange look.
I coughed and turned my head in the opposite direction.
51:08
My legs were genuinely beginning to burn. Keeping my breathing steady was becoming difficult, and every step felt as though small weights had been tied beneath my knees.
"Current status?"
[Strength: 10]
[Agility: 10]
[Stamina: 10]
"Still nothing..."
Despite that, I didn’t stop.
One more lap.
I would run at least one more lap.
When the stopwatch reached 54:36, I entered the tree-lined section of the running path.
At that exact moment, a blue light suddenly flashed in front of my eyes.
[Agility: 10 → 11]
[Stamina: 10 → 11]
My feet stopped in place.
"Huh?"
Because I had stopped so abruptly, I stumbled forward several steps. I spread my arms to keep myself from falling, then stared breathlessly at the messages before me.
I didn’t even blink, as though I was afraid they might disappear.
Agility: 11.
Stamina: 11.
They had only increased by one point each.
Yet I felt unbelievably happy.
I hadn’t completed some ridiculous quest. I hadn’t tried to kiss anyone, humiliated myself during a livestream, or risked drawing a cursed card.
I had earned those two points through my own effort.
"Ahaha..."
I placed my hands on my hips and laughed while struggling to catch my breath.
"That’s it!"
Two pigeons nearby took off in alarm at the sound of my voice.
The old man farther down the path turned and looked at me again.
I didn’t care.
I opened the system window once more.
[Agility: 11]
[Stamina: 11]
The numbers were still there.
"So it really does work."
[As previously stated—]
"Shut up. I’m happy right now."
The window silently closed.
Because of the pain in my legs, I decided to take a short break. I walked over to one of the empty benches beside the running path and sat down.
I leaned against the wooden backrest and tilted my head backward.
My pulse was still racing, but it grew calmer with every passing second. Thanks to White Snake, I could almost feel how quickly my body was recovering. The burning in my calves gradually faded, and the desperate need for air in my lungs began to ease.
After resting for a while, I planned to try some push-ups and pull-ups.
This body was weak, but it was also quite light. Since I didn’t have much weight to lift during a pull-up, I hoped it wouldn’t be too difficult.
In my old life, I could do more than twenty in a single set.
Of course, I no longer had the shoulders and arms from my old life.
At that moment, someone passed in front of me.
My eyes moved toward her without thinking.
It was a girl.
Her long blonde hair swayed lightly behind her as she ran. She wore a pair of form-fitting dark athletic leggings and a light blue zip-up top.
When she turned her head slightly, I saw her blue eyes.
She was beautiful.
Beautiful enough to make someone turn and look a second time, even this early in the morning.
That was exactly what I did.
I continued staring after her without even bothering to look away.
For a moment, I felt like a pervert.
Then I remembered how I currently looked to everyone else.
She would probably assume I was just another girl looking at her.
Therefore, it wasn’t that strange.
Probably...
I chose not to acknowledge that this reasoning made absolutely no sense.
This was the third time I had seen her today. Since she had maintained the same pace even while I was resting, she had to be doing her morning training as well.
After running several metres farther, the girl turned her head and glanced over her shoulder.
Our eyes met.
Even then, I didn’t immediately look away.
One of her eyebrows rose slightly, but she continued running without saying anything.
"Did she see me?"
Of course she had.
I had been staring after her for nearly ten seconds.
I shook my head.
"Whatever."
I had rested long enough.
After getting up from the bench, I walked toward the park’s outdoor fitness area. The ground was covered in dark green rubber, and the area contained parallel bars, push-up handles, and metal bars of different heights.
I stopped in front of the highest pull-up bar.
Then I looked up.
It was a little higher than I had expected.
I rubbed my palms together and took a deep breath.
"All right. Muscles, show me what you can do."
I crouched slightly and jumped.
My fingers closed around the metal bar, and my body swung beneath it.
At first, I genuinely thought it would be easy. I was light, and although my arms were thin, they had no trouble supporting my weight while I hung there.
Then I tried to pull myself up.
Nothing happened.
"Hng..."
I pulled harder.
My shoulders trembled, and my elbows bent by perhaps a single centimetre.
Meanwhile, my body did nothing except swing back and forth like a child on a swing.
"Come on..."
I gritted my teeth, crossed my ankles, and forced all my strength into my arms.
My body slowly began to rise.
Five centimetres.
Ten centimetres.
Then I stopped.
My arms were trembling uncontrollably. My shoulders burned, and my fingers felt as though they were about to slip from the bar.
"You can’t... be this... weak..."
It felt as though someone invisible was pulling my body down from below.
I forced myself a little higher.
The bar was now approaching eye level.
I released the breath trapped inside my lungs with a growl. Gathering all my remaining strength, I raised my chin above the metal bar.
"One!"
My victory lasted for about half a second.
My fingers loosened.
"Wait—"
I found myself on the ground.
My feet had touched down first, but I lost my balance and fell onto my backside.
For several seconds, I stared up at the pull-up bar from below.
"You’ve got to be kidding me."
I jumped to my feet.
"Only one!?"
In frustration, I kicked the metal support post.
Tang!
The post didn’t move at all.
Pain, however, spread through my shoe and into my foot.
"Oh, fuck!"
I hopped on one foot twice before forcing myself to stop.
Why was I always the one who got hurt whenever I attacked an inanimate object?
Losing to the nightstand hadn’t been enough. Now I had lost to a pull-up bar as well.
"Tch."
I stomped my foot down and glared at the bar.
"Maybe I needed to warm up first."
I ignored the fact that I had been running for more than forty minutes.
"I’ll do push-ups."
I bent down and placed my hands on the ground at shoulder width. After stretching my legs behind me, I tried to keep my body straight.
My bandaged hand ached slightly when I placed pressure on it, but the pain was bearable.
I took a deep breath.
"One."
The first five push-ups were easy.
By the sixth, I could feel the fatigue in my arms.
At ten, my breathing began to quicken again.
"Eleven..."
I lowered my chest toward the ground and pushed myself back up.
"Twelve..."
My elbows had begun to tremble.
"Thirteen..."
I was no longer sure my body was staying straight.
"Fourteen..."
My hips rose without permission.
"That... counts."
[Your form is inadequate.]
"Who asked you!?"
I gritted my teeth and continued.
"Fifteen..."
My arms were burning.
"Sixteen..."
My nose nearly struck the ground.
"Seven... teen..."
I became stuck at the bottom for a second. Gathering all my strength, I pushed myself upward.
"Eighteen!"
I was no longer breathing. I was growling.
"Nineteen..."
My arms bent beneath me.
Just before my chest touched the ground, I stopped myself one final time.
One more.
I only needed to do one more.
"Twen..."
I couldn’t push myself up.
I was clenching my teeth so hard that my jaw began to ache.
My trembling arms slowly extended.
"...ty!"
The moment my elbows fully straightened, all my strength disappeared.
I collapsed before I could even turn onto my side.
"I’m dying..."
I spread my arms and rolled onto my back.
The sky was clear and blue.
Tree branches swayed gently at the edge of my vision, while sunlight passing through the leaves made me squint.
Twenty push-ups.
Barely.
If my old body could see me now, it would spit in my face.
At least White Snake would help me recover by tomorrow.
Probably.
I closed my eyes and tried to steady my breathing.
At that moment, a shadow fell across my face, blocking the harsh sunlight.
I opened my eyes.
The ends of golden hair hung down toward my face.
The girl I had been staring at earlier was leaning over me.
A pair of clear blue eyes looked down at me with curiosity and mild concern.
My brain must not have been working properly because of the exhaustion.
Otherwise, I would have stopped the first words that left my mouth.
"An angel..." I whispered.