(Two weeks later)
"95… 96… 97… 98… 99... and 100! Ha…ha…ha…"
Yuuma finished counting his push-ups and then sat on the ground in a deserted park, breathing heavily.
It was very early in the morning, and almost no one was walking the streets, making it the perfect time to do his exercises.
"Damn… at first, I thought I'd suffer doing this… Phew!… but even though my body was in such bad shape, I did it… damn… but it hurt like hell!"
As part of his daily routine, he completed his exercises today as well. Not only to meet the demands of what was required but also to stop having such a frail and depressing body.
For this reason, he started waking up very early and going to the small park near his house to exercise.
Even if he hadn't received that daily task, he would have started exercising anyway because he felt extremely uncomfortable with his current body's condition, which, while not exactly terrible, was far from satisfactory.
But for someone who always sought to excel in everything in his past life, his current state didn't even come close to his best form in his eyes.
That's why he didn't want to start with the basics; he immediately decided to complete Saitama's routine, even though it was very demanding for someone who had never exercised.
In his first life, this routine would have been a piece of cake since he was used to high performance.
However, for Yuuma's current body, it was like torture.
The first day he tried to do the routine, he failed miserably. On the second day, he failed again, and the same went for the following days.
His entire first week was a failure, but he never stopped trying.
By the middle of his second week, he barely managed to complete it, nearly losing consciousness in the process. But now, it didn't affect him as much.
He didn't care about the pain or anything like that. He simply didn't want to waste time lamenting.
If he wanted to live comfortably in this world, according to the old man's words, he had to change both physically and socially. He needed to accomplish something in this world and be taken seriously by others. He needed to build a solid image.
He had to remember that, even though this was an anime world, he couldn't rely on everything falling into place for him for free.
He had a great height for a Japanese man (1.85m) and wasn't unattractive at all, so all he needed was to build up his body a bit more.
Moreover, he needed to be in shape not only to stay healthy but also to handle the missions he would face in the future, whatever they might be.
Missions that, by the way, he didn't have yet.
*Ding, ding, ding*
[Exercising daily will help you develop a good habit! Perform 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 air squats, and run 10 km each day. 1 random reward earned.]
Suddenly, the system's sound interrupted his thoughts as the holographic screen appeared before him.
On the screen, a sort of roulette began spinning rapidly, then gradually slowed down.
This phenomenon was something Yuuma saw every time he finished his exercises, so it no longer surprised him much.
This was the roulette that granted him the random rewards he had earned so far.
'Please, let this reward be something useful' - he prayed mentally.
The first reward he received was a pen, the second was a basic tailoring skill, and the third was a pair of mountain climbing boots… and so on—truly random items.
[Mental Resistance: Level 01 - skill obtained!]
"Huh? Mental resistance, huh."
Yuuma felt intrigued by this result since it didn't resemble the useless items he had received in previous days.
So, he tapped on the icon on the screen to get more information about the skill.
[Mental Resistance – Level 01: When activated, this skill strengthens the host's mind against mental attacks from spiritual beings or allows them to endure extremely adverse situations that could break their mind. Can only be used once every other day. Costs 1 Spiritual Energy (SE) point per minute of use]
"Wow, now this is something good… it's like Harry Potter's Occlumency, right?"
The thought of being able to protect his mind from spiritual attacks seemed insane, but the recent experiences Yuuma had gone through had toughened his mind to the point where little could surprise him.
However, the fact that he had such a skill also hinted at something else: in this world, there might exist supernatural beings or people capable of such things.
And that wasn't a good sign—not at all.
"Spiritual energy… mental attacks… this world is anything but simple" - he murmured as he looked at the sky.
The fact that he had arrived in a new world had completely shifted Yuuma's perspective. If this had happened in his previous life, he would have looked at anyone talking about gaining supernatural powers as if they were crazy.
Only kids dream of such nonsense.
Well… now he was dreaming about the same thing!
He'd be lying if he said he wasn't excited at the idea of acquiring special powers that could help him stand out in this world.
Perhaps his inner child was surfacing? Or maybe his mind was being influenced by his arrival in this new world?
There was no way to know for sure. That's why he felt a slight thrill when he got a mental protection skill today—it brought him closer to having some kind of fantastic power.
"Alright, little by little… let's make the most of what comes our way"
But even though he felt a tinge of worry, Yuuma knew there was no point in panicking. So, he tried not to dwell on it and continued acting as usual.
He stood up and began stretching his body. It was time to return home, change, and attend his second day of school.
Well, calling it "home" was an exaggeration, as he was living in a rented storage unit.
Yes, that damn old man had given him a crappy backstory.
..............
When he entered his room, he noticed the computer was still on. On the screen, several open tabs displayed various graphs and statistical charts.
"Oh?… jajaja, this is perfect"
Yuuma approached and began examining them closely, a small smile forming on his face.
"Boston Red Sox vs. Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers vs. Toronto Blue Jays, Washington Nationals vs. Atlanta Braves… factoring in the time difference, these results from yesterday, Monday, match the Japanese date… I remember these MLB games… I made a lot of money with them."
These results were from the American and National Baseball Leagues, games that Yuuma knew very well.
After returning from his first day of exercising, with what little energy he had left, he conducted a more thorough search on his computer about anything that could serve as a reference for his new world.
He scoured the internet for information, analyzing news outlets, forums, movies, and all sorts of online content.
From all this, he came to one conclusion: this world was almost identical to his first life.
Historical events here were the same—from major wars to the growth and development of industrialized nations, as well as various regional and global crises.
Everything he found online mirrored his previous world.
When he realized this, a smile spread across his face.
If there was one thing he excelled at in his past life, aside from partying, women, and business, it was analyzing games and bets in two specific sports: American football and baseball.
Instead of memorizing dates of historical events or mathematical formulas, he learned everything he could about matches, players, positions, results, and projections, starting from the beginning of the new century.
This made his predictions so accurate that he managed to accumulate a considerable fortune!
It brought him a lot of profit—far more than he ever earned in his professional career.
Although everything in his previous world came to a halt due to the 2020 pandemic, all the prior games had been the same.
He had at least twelve years of knowledge about the most important results in the most influential sports!
Right now, he felt like Biff Tannen from Back to the Future.
"Aaaa... now I think I'll fix my miserable situation" - he murmured with a smile.
Now he had a concrete plan: he would return to his old craft to increase his income.
Building a solid financial foundation was essential.
He needed to make enough money to start his own company or buy shares in other businesses.
Even though this world was one of anime, he didn't know what dangers he might face in the future. While he'd been told this was a peaceful world, it was still a human world.
And if there was one thing he'd learned in his first life, it was that the human world could be one of the cruelest places imaginable.
That's why he wouldn't just sit idly by in an old, dusty storage unit.
The only problem now was that he needed funds to start betting and a VPN to access American sports betting websites.
From what he knew of the original Yuuma's memories, sports betting was only partially legal in Japan.
Currently, betting is allowed on certain domestic sports and only through local betting houses. For other sports, betting was prohibited both physically and online.
Since he was eyeing the big leagues of sports, he needed a good amount of money to make his earnings substantial!
'Alright then, I just need to… what the hell is that?'
Yuuma's thoughts were interrupted when his eyes caught something completely bizarre through his window.
A "thing" was walking past the windows of the building across the street!
Although it only lasted a few seconds, he managed to catch a glimpse of the characteristics of that "thing"
It wasn't a person, an animal, or any kind of object—it was something else.
But the strangest part was that this thing was floating in front of the third-floor windows of the warehouse across the street!
The figure in the building resembled a person draped in tattered gray clothes, but its face was completely obscured by long, tangled hair, making it impossible to discern whether it was male or female.
Beyond that, a dark, ominous aura seemed to envelop it entirely.
'Am I losing my mind, or did I just see a… ghost?'
Instinctively, Yuuma turned his gaze back to his computer, a faint sense of unease washing over him. However, summoning his courage, he looked out the window again—but it was gone.
'It's gone… was that just an illusion?' he wondered internally, but his question was immediately answered.
He spotted the figure again—this time standing on the edge of the rooftop of the building.
What stood out the most was that people were walking around on the rooftop, yet they seemed completely unaware of the ghost's presence.
'Well… damn, this world is anything but normal!' - Yuuma tensed as he watched the situation unfold - "So, ghosts, huh?"
What he needed to do at this moment was remain calm.
That specter seemed to go unnoticed, those people didn't perceive its presence, and it wasn't causing them any harm, so there was no reason to create a scene.
He didn't know what that thing was—whether it was a ghost or something else. He needed to figure out exactly what it was.
If this had happened in his previous life, he would never have even thought about approaching that place. However, this wasn't his old life, and something inside him seemed to urge him to investigate further.
"Phew… it's about time. Let's see what this world has to offer"