After placating his stomach with a decadent meal served and created by Ella, Irwin set himself up on the veranda that overlooked the cobblestoned training grounds.
The moonlit night, raining down its silvery light, coupled with the breeze of post-winter air calmed down Irwin's frayed nerves and boundless energy.
He flexed his hands, feeling the ever-present supernatural strength and elasticity. Although he had gained numerous skills and abilities from the system or through personal gain, what he was fond of the most were his Enhanced Physique.
Just by gaining a level, it was as if he had crossed the bounds of mortality. Surpassing the strength of the man who had trained him and making his previous training routine and effort look like child's play.
Last he checked, he could crack a human skull with two hands, bend steel pipes, jump a dozen feet into the air, and hold his breath underwater for almost three minutes. That was the result of his training regiment under Joaquin's command, which the latter continuously intensified the moment Irwin breaks his previous records, much like how Olympic athletes break world records.
But when his Enhanced Physique advanced to level 3, he felt as if those feats were nothing compared to the newfound strength hidden underneath his skin.
It was as if, after his slumber, he had been reborn with a new body. Molting away his weaker form to become faster, stronger, and better in every way so physically possible.
He wanted to test his strength and so he stood from his seat and positioned himself in front of a metal dummy.
He removed his shirt, noting that, even after the molting, he did not even get a two-pack abs. He had expected his muscles to tone down ever since he traded places with Richard and stopped doing steroids, but who would have thought that it was not in the man's genetics to gain that much ripped muscles.
"Guess I'll just learn a Glamour spell." He muttered jokingly, paying no further attention to his external physique.
He began with doing a series of small punches, ten inches away from the torso of the dummy, and testing the limits of his Pain Tolerance skill.
Within a minute, he found that the pain in his knuckles lessened with every punch, as if his body were warming up to the strikes.
He upped the ante by cocking back his fists and doing one-three combos, starting with a left body blow and ending with a left hook on the side of the dummy's face. He continued so for ten minutes, switching the positions of his fists every one minute.
As if to end the warm-up, his last right hook was launched at full power. The strike nearly tore the dummy out of its post, bending the sheet of steel coating its head and warping the side of the head into a concave bowl.
Not a drop of sweat was to be seen in his body, not even on his slightly reddened knuckles.
"Well, look at that." Delight could not surmise what Irwin felt as of that moment, pride, perhaps, welling, too.
Still, he needed to experiment with his new physique further. The next thing he needed to do was check his current limits.
In the next two hours, Irwin tested the limits of his body's strength, agility, endurance, and reflexes. Breaking all four of the metal dummies within the training grounds, straining the freshly bought barbells and dumbbells in the basement, and nearly suffocating himself on the bathtub.
But when he had finished with the series of tests, when the sun had fully risen from the horizon, he had found himself to be twice as strong and fast as he had been yesterday.
He had long surpassed the limits of a normal human; able to punch through steel, albeit not unharmed; hold his breath through restrained and barest daunting environment for almost five minutes; and, although unproven through official tests, had the stamina to last hours in bed, which, he figured, could measure his endurance in battles and other related fields.
Although this was merely a preliminary series of experiments, and would conduct more thorough and stringent tests after his mission, he had an inkling that his strength would rise once more once he incorporated a more rigorous training routine into his daily life.
He had to be thankful for the Will Domination spell, for it had given him a fairly powerful ally but also increased his fighting prowess. It had to be said that the sting of losing more than 300 credits for both the spell and ingredients seemed to have lessened with every passing second.
The sound of the bathroom door opening severed his musings as he watched his female companion, buck naked, save for the towel around her head, clean her ears with a cotton bud as she exited the bathroom.
Peach Blossom Greene, first daughter of Mayor Marcellus Greene and Deputy Mayor Erich Greene. A buxom, young, bottle-blond young woman whose fiery personality complemented her desire on the sheets, much to Irwin's delight as they rekindled their passionate love affair from a few years ago.
Unlike her younger sister, Loss, as she would like to be called, had interned on a fairly large filming studio in Los Angeles and was currently working as a production manager, elbowing her way into the heart of the business without so much as a scratch to her legal personality.
Her morals were another thing, however.
"Your bathtub's broken," She remarked. Dropping the towel on her head, revealing her waist-length blonde hair, which showed her brunette roots.
No matter how many times he had seen her naked in the past few hours, Irwin could still not believe that a random call was all it took for her to drive down the manor and screw like bunnies on Adderall.
He chuckled, hiding the smile with his hand, at the thought of the late Richard Greythorne's game.
"Mind closing the curtains?" He requested, finding the rays of the morning light unbearable. He had figured mid-way into the consummation of their friendship that his senses also received some upgrades.
She did so, finishing equipping her clothes and sat down on Irwin's dresser where a large mirror and a slew of expensive makeup were located. "God, your kit became even more expensive. I'm taking this, by the way."
"Be my guest." He paid her words and theft no heed as he relaxed on the bed and activated his system.
[ Character Sheet | Skill | Supernatural Record | Status(!) | Quest | Trade Store ]
He had already checked the Supernatural Record, merely recounting what he had learned from Charlotte's mental realm.
Apparently, when a witch, especially one as gifted as Charlotte, becomes depressed or experiences severe emotional trauma or disturbed emotions, they can suddenly gain the ability to retreat back to their mind.
This act enables them to not experience physical pain or feeling and also allows them to shore up mental defenses, but it also endangers them by treating the physical realm, and their physical bodies, as a secondary priority.
The defense of their physical body was relegated to instinct and the subconscious, much like what Charlotte's body had done before he broke through her flimsy defense.
Once an invader was also in the mental realm of said witch, they can inflict serious metaphysical damage that, once it reached a certain threshold, could transfer back to the actual body.
It was implied that witches only "Return to Origin" when there is no serious physical harm to be expected and, instead, aimed at averting emotional, mental, or spiritual damage.
He mentally clicked on the Status sheet, wondering what changed after the spell.
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Status
Physical Status: Aroused; Boundless
Mental Status: Aroused; Excited
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Resistance/s: Greater Werewolf Curse; Minor Poisoning; Lesser Spell; Minor Pain
Weakness/es:
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Blessing/s:
Curse/s: ERROR
ERROR
ERROR
ERROR
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Due to the acquisition of the will of another creature, the current version of the [Status] sub-system will be updated.
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Update In Progress…
Update Done!
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Congratulations! The sub-system [Status] has been overhauled and has not been renamed due to the user's suggestion. A brief introduction will be uploaded momentarily.
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Before he could check the changes in the sub-system, Irwin heard Loss's bag clattering in the distance as she waved at him to gain his attention.
"Join us at the meet-and-greet later?" She asked.
"Nah, going to Portland." He replied, shaking his head.
"Ugh, rude," She said jokingly before blowing him a goodbye kiss. "See ya!"
He returned to his system the moment her body left the room, eager to catch the sight of the updated Status sub-system.
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[Sebastian Archibald Richard Greythorne IV]
▪︎ Physical Health: -120%
▪︎ Stamina: -131%
▪︎ Magik Reserves: +90%
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▪︎ Physical Effects:
▪︎ Mental Effects:
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▪︎ Resistance/s: Greater Werewolf Curse; Minor Poisoning; Lesser Spell; Minor Pain
▪︎ Weakness/es:
▪︎ Blessing/s:
▪︎ Curse/s:
▪︎ Mark/s: Touch of the Almighty
…
[Charlotte Patricia Barbaro-Pamphili]
▪︎ Physical Health:+29%
▪︎ Stamina: +73%
▪︎ Magik Reserves: +15%
▪︎ Dominator's View: Friendly Subservience
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▪︎ Physical Effects:
▪︎ Mental Effects:
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"Well, that's certainly new."