"Alright, that's enough for the morning session. You should go take a shower and eat something, remember to follow the menu I gave you. I will see you again in 4 hours?"
Clarke wiped his wet face with a towel as he looked at the breathless Chrome standing before him.
"Hah… hah… Yes, coach…" Chrome mumbled out in a low voice…
"Good, if you keep it up, you should be able to achieve a decent result before you get admitted to the Academy."
Throwing Chrome a thumbs up, Clarke turned around and walked towards the dumbbell stand to continue his training.
Click. Gulp… Gulp…
Opening the water bottle in his hand, Chrome swallowed a few mouthfuls of water before wiping his sweat away and walking towards the changing room.
'Exhausting…'
The coach did say it would be a simple session but Chrome believed what followed was hell in comparison…
After the treadmill run, there were push-ups, set-ups, squats, side-jumping and so on… one training after the other, the coach didn't spare Chrome as he kept working him out till this point.
Of course, as a result, Chrome truly understood how effective training in this hall was. If he did this training elsewhere, Chrome was sure that he would drop after simply finishing the treadmill run at the very start!
He did already feel the refreshing feeling before he started, but he only felt the real difference during the training itself. The more he felt that he had reached his limit, his body kept going even further, the cells felt as if they were alive and breathing.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that during these three hours or so of training, his mind was more drained than his body thanks to the effect of the stimulation waves!
By now, Chrome no longer doubted the fact that training in this environment would give amplified results, just the prolonged periods of training was enough to achieve that, not to mention the deep effect the waves had on the body itself.
'Unfortunately, there is still no change…'
Despite being too tired, Chrome was still pretty satisfied with everything, having received a service that he believed was worth what he paid for, but in the end, he was a little too bummed by the stagnant scroll in his mind.
Having had a taste of what it was like to have a stat increased, Chrome was pretty hyped to see a change to his status change, but no matter how long he stared at the scroll as he trained, nothing happened.
In the end, Chrome could only sigh as he walked out of the gym, it was merely wishful thinking to believe that a mere 3 hours of cardio would improve his physical body.
'I'm becoming too complacent…'
Chrome shook his head as he removed doubt from his mind, it seemed like his thinking had become a bit flawed due to the benefits he had received lately. In the end, nothing was that easy to get, even his subscription to this service was only possible thanks to alter Chrome's constant part-time jobs.
Not forgetting to pass by the grocery to get some proper food for his new diet, Chrome directly went home after to rest. He still had another session of basic 'general' muscle training with Clarke in the evening, so he had to let his body rest as soon as possible…
`~~`~~`~~`
"Wake-"
Without letting the alarm song even start, Chrome had already risen off his pillow and immediately canceled it and he closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them once more as they flashed with excitement!
He had finished his second training session yesterday and went immediately to bed as soon as he arrived home as his whole body ached, sleeping at 9 pm, exactly three hours before the designated time for the world exchange to happen.
He had as a matter of fact done so out of exhaustion but he was also anticipating something else…
'It works!'
He had received a benefit from the parallel world for the very first time after a few days of constant exchange!
'The clarity is still there!'
His mind which had received a great boost in the parallel world hypothetically thanks to it fusing with what was left of alter Chrome's consciousness was still the same after he woke up back in his own reality!
The less restrained scope of thinking, the clarity, the heightened awareness of his surroundings, all of these new qualities that he had just gained in the parallel reality were still there.
The physical exhaustion that he gained from training didn't transfer over, only the change to his mind had stayed the same.
By this point, there was no denying it… even though Chrome didn't know how or why this parallel world existed, he was now at least completely sure that it existed.
One could easily deny his experience so far as a very deep dreaming syndrome or some sort of a mental disease but now, unless he was also hallucinating about his Intelligence's increase, he had carried over something that he didn't have a few days ago!
'Let's test it further…'
Leaving his bed, Chrome grabbed one of his old math textbooks after opening his desk light as he opened it and found one of the tricky equations that he usually had trouble solving, took out a pen, and directly sprung into action…
One could easily trick himself into believing something, but practical testing never lies! This was one of the core values Chrome held as an experimental nerd.
…...
"Eh? You are even studying this early now…? Nevermind, you seem to really like this 'acting differently' game you have been playing, not that it's bad anyway, however, you should stop this abrupt studying session for now and go out for breakfast."
As Sarah passed by Chrome's room like usual, she had already gotten used to him waking up so early and thought there would be no more surprises, yet he was somehow strangely doing one of the things he rarely did unless he had a test.
"Got it mom, just a minute." Chrome turned his head around and nodded quickly before diving back into the textbook.
"Is this a strange side-effect of late puberty…?"
As his mother mumbled quietly and left, Chrome who still heard it finally added the # mark to the end of the equation as he closed the textbook with a smile and hurriedly left the room