"Kid, what are you doing?!" Boris almost had a heart attack when he saw Nyx running around with his precious, delicate Hypo suit on his body.
When most clients put on the suit, they usually use it to lift heavy metals and improve their physical conditioning gradually with the aid of the additional pressure and restriction from the suit. However, Nyx seemed to have an even better use for the suit, something that made Boris's chest squeeze tightly.
'Please don't damage the suit, that thing cost a fortune!' Boris thought when he saw Nyx jumping up, his breath quickening. "Damn this kid, why does he have to be so rough with the suit? But most importantly, why hadn't anyone thought about running with the suit?"
Now that Boris thought about it, Nyx's training method wasn't entirely bad because running under the brunt of the pressure, he was actually overexerting himself, thus making him adapt quicker to the pressure.
'He's smart!' Even though he was fearful of his suit breaking down, Master Boris couldn't help but acknowledge.
What he didn't know was that Nyx was able to be creative with his training method because he could actually see his stats increasing, which was impossible for the mundane person.
Inside the suit, Nyx's breathing was slow and ragged. Sweat slid off his temple into his clothes, sticking to his body. Despite the dirty feeling, the red-haired boy was still persistent because he could actually see his stats increase.
....
- Attack Power +2
- Defense Power +2
- Stamina +2
....
Just as he had thought, Nyx was able to increase his strength with running, but for some time now, the stats had remained stagnant, not even moving an inch. The red-haired boy's face turned into a frown as his dream about abusing this suit came crashing down; that was when he remembered that there were still other levels!
"Master Boris, I'm ready to go to the next level!" Nyx said as he slowed down his pace.
"It's just been 5 minutes, are you sure you want to go to the next level 2?" Boris asked with a bit of concern because normally his clients spend close to 10-20 minutes before proceeding to the next level. 5 minutes was just too fast, and this was the fastest time he had recorded.
"He's ready to go to the next level," Momo calmly said when he saw Boris hesitating a bit. With the help of his x-ray glasses, he could see that Nyx's heart wasn't beating so fast anymore, and his nerves were visibly calmer, which could only mean the red-haired boy had adapted to the level one pressure.
'That's a new record.' Momo was mildly surprised but didn't show it. "Maybe he could just beat Bob. This lad, what is his true identity? Something tells me he is more than he's letting on."
The man subtly narrowed his eyes within his glasses in suspicion. 'I should probably do some investigation into the orphanage he came from.'
While Momo was lost in thought, Master Boris had increased the level to one, and the red-haired boy felt an even more terrifying pressure weighing on him. It felt as if he was carrying a ton of bricks. His calm heart started to beat erratically again, the suffocating heat inside the suit caused him to sweat profusely as if he had just come out of hot water.
"Damn, this manufacturer. Install some cooling mechanism, genius!"
....
- Attack Power +2
- Defense Power +2
- Stamina +2
....
***
Somewhere else, inside a large room filled with several monitor screens, a nerdy-looking gaunt man was staring intently at the screen, which was showing a skeletal display of the Hypo suit, showing a little boy running inside.
"Why didn't we think about including this in the manual!" The man facepalmed when he saw the boy inside the suit running and could see their strength increasing gradually.
"This is so convenient; whoever this person is, they're creative." The man thought. He was a worker for Grey Cooperation and was in charge of watching over the beta suit to spot anything wrong with it and ways to upgrade it. Today by chance, he had stumbled upon this godsent person.
While he was monitoring the screen, however, he noticed something remarkable happening. The stats of the person inside the suit were increasing at an unprecedented rate. His eyes widened in disbelief as he watched the numbers climb higher and higher with each passing moment.
"Level 2...wait, 3...four!!" The man's eyes widened. "This is the fastest record! Even our better testers weren't achieving this. Who is this kid!"
"Boss needs to know about this."
Quickly, the worker realized the significance of this discovery. He knew he had to report it to his boss immediately. With trembling fingers, he dialed his boss's number.
"Boss, you won't believe what I'm seeing. We've got someone inside the beta suit who's leveling up faster than anyone we've ever seen before!"
"Faster leveling? Are you sure about this?" An immature voice came from the other side.
"Yes, boss, I've been monitoring the stats closely. This person is breaking all records. We need to act fast before anyone else catches wind of this."
The boss pondered for a moment before giving his orders. "Track the location of the suit and find out who's inside. I want you to offer them a job as our lead tester, with access to all our new products. And make sure to keep this under wraps. We don't want any competition catching on to this. This person might just be the person we're looking for to complete our secret project."
"Understood, boss. I'll get right on it," the worker replied right away as he started to type on his computer again. Soon he found the location of the person doing the impossible.
"Hero Bureau, Los Angeles branch."
***
"What in the seven hells?" Boris stared at Nyx in utter disbelief. "You've leveled up to four already? In record time?!"
He couldn't believe the red-haired boy was leveling up at such a rapid pace when it had just been an hour! A freaking hour! He was even surpassing the most experienced testers. This was unprecedented.
"Where did you find this kid!" Boris exclaimed, still finding words to describe Nyx's achievement. "I mean, running with the suit? Who would've thought? You're rewriting the rules here, kid."
Even high-ranking Superhumans weren't able to climb up to level four in an hour!
The previous best result was 3 days; this boy of thirteen broke this record in an hour. He made it look so easy.
Nyx, who was inside the Hypo Exo suit, was smiling gleefully as he saw his status climbing through the roof.
....
- Attack Power +2
- Defense Power +2
- Stamina +2
....
'This trip was worth it!' the red-haired boy exclaimed, but he knew he couldn't go further. His health was hitting rock bottom! The reason Nyx was even able to go this far was because of mindsets, the mindset of a 100-year-old villain dubbed as the Earth's Deadliest.
Because he was a dud, Nyx had trained himself to the maximum human capability as possible. Having subjected himself to harsher training, this was a bit easier. Most superhumans depended solely on their powers, thus making them lack when it comes to strength training, a place Nyx excelled.
It was the reason for Nyx's unprecedented display, but the red-haired knew that if this was his original body, he would have done better than this.
Still reeling from the shock, Boris could only shake his head in disbelief. "You've truly outdone yourself, Nyx. But brace yourselves; this next training would be a whole different challenge."
As he said those words, the sound of mechanical cogwheels coming to life was heard, and the metal walls surrounding the room started to part into two, revealing transparent glass walls. Within these walls were beasts unlike anything Nyx had seen before, and they were ramming their bodies into the glass walls, eager to devour the humans on the other side.
"You wanted to kill something right?" Master Boris displayed a smile. "You have something to kill in there."
As Nyx watched the beasts, there were literally stars in his eyes. He had this nagging feeling that he would be able to increase his experience points and unlock more features of the Villain Evolution System.