Orcus picked his sword that was laid on the floor, and spoke, "We begin now. Start with 10,000 push-ups."
I got down on the hot landmass, and started doing push-ups. Honestly, I didn't know my limit, nor did I ever have the time to check, but with this opportunity, I could finally check them.
"104, 105, 106.....345, 346, 347....562, 563, 564..."
I could easily pass 500. But after 570, my muscles started to pain. My face was already red from the blood flowing through, but I managed to overcome the blood rushing to my head.
"God damn it! seven hund..red and...five. seven hundred..and six..."
I tried to overcome the pain in my hands, but it was far too much. I could see my veins popping out of my hands. After a thousand, my nose started to bleed. However, I didn't stop. With my immortal body, a nosebleed was the least of my worries.
Another thousand push-ups down, I started coughing blood. My hands were still on the ground, and I didn't move from my position. Till the time I wouldn't faint, it wouldn't be my actual limit. If I can go further, then I will.
With what was left of my strength, I whispered to keep count. "f..five thou..sand...and....seven..ty ...four."
I fell to the floor a moment later. I was awake, but I couldn't move. Blood dripped down on the floor from my face. My eyes were almost fuelled with blood. I could see, but with a red tinge in the corners of my eyes, indicating the excess blood flow.
Orcus lifted my body with his right hand, and headed towards his room. He placed my body in the corner and used a healing spell on me. I took an hour to heal, my wounds were that brutal.
After standing back up on my feet, Orcus spoke, "Now complete the rest of your push-ups, until then, I'll be busy talking to the Devil."
Orcus left the room and headed further into the castle. I started doing push-ups once more. While I was exercising, a thought continually passed my mind. If I would've been strong enough during the time when the portals opened, I would've been able to save more people. Each push-up that I did, signified another person I could save in the future.
[Skill: Rage activated.]
[Skill: Red Shadow activated.]
"5,004, 5,005...."
I didn't stop even though I passed the 10,000 mark. I could feel my bones grinding against each other while I was moving. My core was about to burst. However, even in such a situation I took a step ahead. I completed 15,000 push-ups, before I fainted.
Orcus woke me up by kicking my body. I flung across the room and landed on the wall. The force was minimal, and I was barely damaged. Of course, Orcus had healed me before doing this.
"You have done enough for now. Take a look at your stats to see the results."
Following the God's order, I spoke, "Status open."
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Name: Zaros
Species: God
Hero Level: 0
Status:
[HP 920/1,000]
[MP 10,000/10,000]
[STR 8,343/10,002]
[STM 500/500]
[WIS 700]
[LUK 101]
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The limit of my strength had increased by 2! It was a small increase, and I could easily achieve the same by killing two demons. But to know I could progress further simultaneously due to exercising, was a boost.
Orcus spoke, "To show you the benefits of working out, I made you do this. Status points are sacred, if you wish to succeed in the long run, then its better that you only use them to enhance your stats and not your limits. To exceed your limits, all you have to do is exercise, however, I leave the choice to you. Now, to spend the rest of your days here, I suggest that you exercise half the time, and for the other half, slay demons. I've talked with the Devil, he's approved of it. Secondly, an important point I forgot to mention, is that you can run to improve your stamina. I'll be leaving now, feel free to use this room however you like. And until I return, don't use your mana."
Orcus soon after, left the room. I understood what I had to do. Demons would serve as my status points and exercising would improve my potential.
Since I had enough strength to kill a large number of demons, I walked out of the room, and walked further away from the castle. After progressing on the landmass for 2 hours, I found a batch of 15 demons.
They all looked towards me.
I grinned while asking, "System, with the activated skills, how much of a boost do I have?"
[Command understood.]
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Boosts:
1.[Red Shadow] = STR x4 + STR x4
2.[Rage] = STR x2
Total Boost:
STR x 16
Actual Stat:
[STR 10,002/10,002]
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"Let's begin."
I rushed towards the demons and pulled each of their cores out of their chests. Any punches they threw, were ineffective. By the time my rampage ended, 15 demon cores had fallen on the floor, and the demons were just about to explode. Since they were still alive before the explosion, I couldn't store them in the system. I walked off a bit further as the demons exploded behind me.
"System, store all demon cores. And other than that, inform me whenever I obtain a new skill."
[Command understood.]
[Command accepted.]
I passed through the landmass and killed any demon and parademon that was in my sight. However, killing parademons was far more fun. Anytime a parademon would try to fight against me, I would leap into the sky, and would smash the parademon's skull with my fists. During the course of my battle, I realised that the fire that the demons spewed didn't affect my skin, however, it still caused a little bit of damage. Each time I would get hit, it would feel like a sting. Secondly, I couldn't access the details of the title [Evil God]. I guess this is because the system doesn't accept my boosted stat.
After killing about 500 demons without an ounce of sleep, I saw another landmass, situated right above me. The ceiling that I had previously seen, was in truth, another planet.