The time was early in the morning, inside a small apartment in one of the quiet neighbors of Tokyo, a young man was awake way before most people's alarms would start ringing.
In fact, he wasn't only awake but full of energy as he did his daily push-ups and squats. His naked torso was bare for the eyes to see and admire. The sweat trickling down his body glistened under the light of the sun.
"150… 151… 152…" He kept murmuring under his breath as he continued his training with impressive focus.
Eventually, he stopped at around 190 before he stood up and grabbed the towel to wipe his face. His impressive physique was a sight to behold. It was even more impressive if the person knew how Arthur looked merely a month ago.
There was no trace of his old, weak, and sickly body which was now replaced with a healthy, energetic physique that pulsed with raw energy. Just the mere movement of his hands to wipe his face or to drink a bottle of water would make him flex.
In just one short month, he underwent a change that he had never thought was possible before. Granted, he went through brutal training just to get this change but even then, this was just too fast!
"Well, who cares? MangaVerse probably boosted my physique." He shrugged it off.
After wiping his face, he opened his Objectives to see how far he had gone.
[Objective: (1-Month Ordeal): Finish the tasks below in one month to gain 10 Ink Points and +5 to all stats.
-Run 200 Km (200/200)
-Do 5000 Push-ups (5000/5000)
-Do 5000 Squats (5000/5000)
-Use The Divine Pen for 100 hours to write down or draw. (95/100)]
Looking at his progress with deep satisfaction, Arthur's smile widened and a tear welled up in his eyes.
"I'm close… I actually did it." Crouching down, he wiped his tears. He felt emotional just seeing how much he improved.
This last month was tough, too tough for Arthur who wasn't accustomed to being this disciplined. He had to quickly learn how to handle all this work and deal with it. It certainly took a toll on his mental well-being. But, he didn't give up. Just the mere thought of seeing his dream that got revived get crushed again, Arthur's motivation soared to the sky and beyond.
However, now that he was one step away from ending the training, he was just too happy that he wanted to cry.
"*Sniff*, this isn't time to cry. That was merely the beginning. Things will get tougher from here on out. But, I'm up for it!" Exclaiming loudly, Arthur stood up again and walked toward the bathroom to take a shower.
After the shower, he stood in front of the mirror to take a final look at his appearance and was it a surprise to anyone who knew Arthur before.
First of all, his body was now completely different. It was now the closest to the epitome of a good body. His muscles were symmetrical with the right amount of size. His skin was now glossy and healthy in contrast to what it was before. But, the biggest change was his face.
A few weeks ago, he went to the barber and cut his long hair. His hidden face was now more apparent for the eyes to see. Arthur didn't do much for it except shorten it and keep it straight, middle-parted to allow for him to see better.
So, he paid the barber who seemed frozen for some reason. But, Arthur didn't bother and simply left the barber to go back home and start studying. However, he noticed something odd. Every person he passed would look at him with a weird gaze. Most of these people were women which made it even worse for Arthur.
'What's up with these people looking at me?! Do I look weird? Or maybe I fucked up by choosing this haircut? Aaaah, stop looking at me!' Instinctively, Arthur hurried his steps home. That was when someone stopped him.
"Excuse me…" A girl approached him with a seductive smile on her face.
"What?" Arthur replied harshly, his face had a huge frown on it. At that moment, he looked intimidating. However, in his head, he was panicking.
'Is she going to insult me?' He thought to himself.
"Mmm, can I… Can I get your number please!" The girl asked as she held her phone out.
"Huh…" Arthur blinked in confusion.
'She's asking for my number? Why? Does she need it to file a lawsuit against me for being such an eyesore? No, I doubt that's the case.'
Although Arthur knew that he wasn't by any means ugly, he still could only believe that everyone around him looked at him as if he was some kind of anomaly.
"Mmm, I'm sorry, but I'm in a hurry." Instead, Arthur decided to excuse himself quickly before he escaped.
'Shit, what is happening today? Was that haircut that effective?'
Then, for the next few days, Arthur would get an ungodly number of approaches from women and even men. He found himself unable to even go out for a jog without ending up being stopped by someone.
Inwardly, Arthur was annoyed by this change since he didn't like attention at all. However, he would be lying if he said he didn't secretly feel his ego grow bigger because of it. The idea that he was very handsome now was settling in his head.
"Hmm, so girls like such an appearance. That's good to know for the future." Touching his face, Arthur took a better look at himself in the mirror. "Hahaha, this is good! Well, not now since I'm going to get even busier but maybe I will be able to get a girlfriend."
The moment he uttered the word 'Girlfriend', the image of a certain girl appeared in his head which made him blush slightly.
'Why did I even think of her?! There ain't no way that will ever happen. Not in a billion years.' Shaking those thoughts away, Arthur headed to his room and changed his clothes before he sat down and started studying.
Since this was the last day and he already finished everything except for this, he took his sweet time to do the last few papers of his homework slowly.
During this last month, Arthur was able to study every single subject he was falling behind on in school. He was certain that when school started again in a few days, he was going to be able to keep up which was also a major change in his life. He wasn't the dumb, clueless kid in class anymore.
Then, finally, at around noon, Arthur reached the moment he had been eagerly waiting for. Thirty cruel days of pure hard work and dedication just so that he could reach this moment.
"One more word written and I'm done. Finally, I'm there." With a smile, Arthur put his shaking hands on the paper before he finally wrote the last word which finished his homework. At the same time.
[Ding!]
[Objective Achieved!]
[You have gained +10 Ink Points, +5 in all stats!]
Before Arthur could even celebrate, the change in his body had already begun taking effect which almost knocked him back on his chair.
'It's happening!! I can feel it! This is the biggest power-up I've had!!'