The best use of a first life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.

  ~ William James

  Sarah was not a fan of min-maxing character stats in games that she played like some of her friends. Plus, she did not want to get overpowered in one aspect of her personal stat sheet at the expense of others, especially so early in the process of understanding this system, the Path of Ancients.

  So, without any other information, she simply applied one free point to each of the four body stat categories.

  It worked, and each stat upgraded to F8. As soon as they did, her Body Rank also upgraded to F8. That suggested a connection.

  Was the body rank the aggregate of all of the individual stats, some kind of average? Since all the stats were currently the same, it was hard to tell, but the Body Rank had not upgraded until all four stats did. She would have to test it further.

  If the Body rank was an aggregate of the individual Body stats, why weren’t her Spirit and Talent ranks broken out into more specific stats? If they were, it might help her understand what those rankings did.

  She couldn’t find a way to control the display of her character sheet or change it in any way, so she moved on and confirmed the new points she’d just applied.

  Another rush of invigorating warmth spread through her body as soon as she did, and she grinned. Even if the system path was just a figment of her imagination, it felt good. “I could get used to this.”

  When she updated her stats, her health point ranking did not. It remained at F9, but the numbers next to the rank did tick up to 110. What was that all about? There had to be some kind of multiplier calculation in there somewhere, but she couldn’t decipher it yet.

  “It’s just so weird.” she muttered.

  Part of her wanted to laugh off the whole thing as a figment of her fragmented soul or broken mind or whatever was going on, but that rush of health and strength had felt too real. It seemed impossible, but was the quest somehow really giving her the opportunity to actually grow stronger?

  Impossible. And yet . . .

  Sarah glanced around to confirm she was alone. The little grassy park was often busy, but not until after school got out or people got off from work.

  It was still early enough in the day that she had the park all to herself. Feeling just a little foolish, she strode onto the soft grass, dropped to the ground, and pumped out twenty more push-ups.

  She'd done enough push-ups earlier that she should have felt sore, but her muscles felt strong, ready to go. More importantly, had those twenty push-ups been slightly easier than before?

  “No way,” She breathed as the possible ramifications set her mind racing.

  She was a firm believer in working out and staying fit, and had seen how regular workouts over time had indeed made her stronger. This was different, though.

  If that kind of a daily quest workout could raise her character sheet stats and result in her gaining measurable extra strength, what did that mean in the long run?

  “Don't jump to any conclusions,” she told herself as she headed back to her apartment.

  She was so flush with energy and excitement that she broke into another jog, moving even faster than she had earlier. She should have been tired after running five miles, but she felt fresher than ever, and that made her smile.

  She puzzled over the question of what was happening to her all afternoon. Thoughts tumbled in the back of her mind even as she showered again, went shopping to buy some fresh food, and texted with Jill, discussing the latest developments with Alterego.

  Jill had been hounded by reporters most of the day, and a couple of news vans even showed up at Sarah's apartment before dinner. She managed to hide out of sight before they reached the door and pretended to not be home.

  Jill clearly enjoyed the spotlight, but Sarah did not want any of it. She wanted to be done with that previous life, figure out what was going on with her, and make plans for a new future away from Alterego.

  “First thing to test is if these daily quests are really doing anything.”

  After the news vans left, Sarah headed down to the local gym where she had a membership. She knew few people there because she was so rarely at home, but she was still recognized immediately.

  People swarmed around her, asking questions about Alterego. A couple of the guys tried to flirt with her, but she pretended not to notice.

  When she finally managed to escape the crowd, she headed for the free weights area. She needed to set a baseline for her strength in a way that she could tell if the daily quest was actually making her stronger, or if it was all in her mind.

  After a little experimenting, she picked a couple of exercises to test her strength, including bicep curls, bench press, and deadlift. She had to get one of the trainers who worked there to help her fine-tune her deadlift technique, since she didn’t do that one as often.

  Then she started pushing herself, trying to hit a max weight for a single set. It was honestly way more than she had expected, more than her previous maxes, and the trainer gushed over the results.

  Sarah usually did more reps at lighter weights. She didn’t want to look like one of those giant bodybuilders, so she didn’t often push her max. With the bench press, she managed to press up over 250 pounds.

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  For a moment, she didn’t believe it herself. She’d never even tried 185 before, and she rarely saw women setting up those kinds of weights. One of the ever-present overly-muscled guys working out nearby noted the weights and gave her a thumb’s up.

  The approval of a guy who clearly loved working out and could no doubt pump out a dozen reps at 250 pounds still made her grin. Working out had never felt so fun. With dumbbells, she usually curled 20 pounds, but when she tried maxing, she comfortably curled a full 45. That was nuts!

  The trainer was really nerding out as they moved to the deadlift. Sarah took more time with that one, working with lower weights to make sure she got the technique right. She didn’t want to pull a muscle. Finally, she stepped up the weights until she found her max.

  “300 pounds!” the trainer gushed. “You seriously don’t do these often?”

  “Not much. I’ve been doing a lot of general workout classes lately.”

  “You should consider becoming a professional crossfit competitor,” the guy said. “You might have quite a future.”

  “I’ll think about it. I do need to look for another job.”

  The numbers were honestly staggering. A quick internet search confirmed that professional crossfit athletes could pump out higher deadlifts, but there wasn’t a lot of data on their bench and curl weights. Still, she was clearly pushing the upper limits of what a female athlete could do.

  How did that make any sense? She always kept in top trim, but she’d never been one to max weights. No way Marilyn had taken up bodybuilding on the side while renting her body, either.

  Had the weird mental system she’d just acquired really just boosted her physical abilities so much?

  It was exciting and a bit unnerving at the same time. Real life wasn’t supposed to work like that.

  She grimaced at a new thought. What if those dying souls that had bled their rainbow power all over her had somehow infused her with extra strength? Did that mean she had a bunch of invisible ghosts helping her lift?

  No. That was too insane.

  Sarah escaped that unsettling line of thoughts by heading outside to time her speed sprinting 100 yards. The gym was built close to the high school track field. Afternoon practices were done, so only a few people were lingering.

  One of the girls agreed to help time a sprint, although it was clear she wasn’t expecting Sarah to accomplish much. Usually, Sarah wouldn’t either. She wasn’t usually a sprinter, but leaped forward at the girl’s starting shout with every ounce of power she could muster.

  Sprinting never felt so good. Her legs flew effortlessly, and she actually grinned as she pounded across the distance.

  “12.5 seconds!” the girl shouted when Sarah crossed the finish line.

  “Is that pretty good?” Sarah asked after slowing and circling back. The girl was now looking at her with wonder.

  “Better than good!” the girl gushed. “I run the hundred, and I’m one of the top runners in the district. You nearly tied my record this year.”

  “Whoa.”

  “You don’t understand. Top runners in the nation barely reach the mid-ten-second range, and you just walked in here and threw down a sub-thirteen?” She laughed.

  Sarah smiled at her excitement. “I guess I should have sprinted in high school. Thanks for your help.”

  “Any time.” As Sarah turned away, the girl added, “You know, the sprint coach is looking for an assistant. Have any time to volunteer?”

  “Thank you,” Sarah said, moved by the suggestion. She’d never imagined becoming a coach. “My schedule is pretty booked right now, but maybe in the future.”

  “Great. See you later.”

  Sarah waved, but her mind was racing. Something weird was definitely going on. She’d never been a sprinter, so how could she post such a time with no special training?

  “Maybe it’s just post-transfer high?” She wondered. She was on fire today, but had just gotten her body back, so that might explain everything. Or at least some of it, right?

  Regardless, she was in way better shape than usual right after getting her body back from a renter. Usually, it was like some of those old fogies who wanted to experience youth again never actually went outside and exercised.

  With that impressive baseline set, she went home and watched a movie, trying to relax. If she pretended nothing bizarre was happening, maybe it would stop.

  Nope. The next morning when she woke up, she had another daily quest waiting. Exact same quest as the day before, so she got right to it. In record time, she pumped out the push-ups, sit-ups, and ran the five miles. Felt a little easier too.

  Just like the previous day, when the quest completed, she got the same reward. She again applied the free points to all of her body stats, and her Health Points rose to 122, although the health rank remained stuck at F9.

  She tried applying the points in a different order than the day before, watching to see when the overall body rank ticked up. Again, it changed after all of her body stats had finished upgrading to F9.

  A little more testing might be required, but it was definitely looking like the body rank was the average of her body stats. Simple enough, and figuring out that one small part of the puzzle was comforting.

  “Nice,” she grinned as that wave of warm energy refreshed and empowered her.

  With a sense of growing anticipation, Sarah went straight to the gym. She felt no need to rest first.

  After having to work through another crowd of eager people trying to ply her for information about the disaster, or to hit on her, she ran through her exercises again.

  The same trainer was there, and he jumped at the chance to help her test her maxes again. A few of the other heavily-muscled regulars were there again, and more of them watched her sets appreciatively.

  She really was stronger. Not by a lot, but by an actual measurable amount. Using the same weights, she managed five additional reps with the curls and managed to press up the bar twice instead of once. Her deadlift improved, and even her sprint time was cut by half a second.

  “It worked,” she breathed.

  She honestly had not allowed herself to expect anything like that, but had forced herself to assume this was all some weird manifestation of her mental fragmentation.

  Sarah returned home, feeling a bit shocked. It was just a single test, but if the results continued in the same pattern, and if she kept getting a daily quest every day, what did it mean?

  In games and even in some fantasy books she liked to read, character progression was a real thing and very important, but real life didn't work that way. At least, it wasn't supposed to.

  This system path seemed to be unique to her. She'd never heard of anyone else getting daily quests, stats, and seeing actual measurable results when their stats ticked up.

  How was it possible? Was it all a result of that explosion, nearly dying, and having those souls bleed all of their dying energy into her, or was something more going on?

  That experience should have probably twisted her soul into something broken. One person was not supposed to absorb the energy from other souls, were they? And yet, it seemed to have only made her stronger, with the potential to becoming significantly more powerful.

  Eirene, with her freaky ability to remove souls from bodies was a perfect example of someone with abilities beyond what was considered normal or possible. Mai Luan also had proven herself superhuman in some ways. Had Sarah stepped into their world farther than she had expected?

  If she continued to do her daily quests for a week, what would that do to her strength? How about if she continued every day for a month?

  Was she on her way to becoming a superhero?

  The words from the initial quest flitted back into her mind. It had said something about starting on the path to greater power, but warned that powerful entities would become aware of here. That did not sound like the invitation to a tea party, but a suggestion that those entities might not be friendly.

  If she was gaining strength so fast, how powerful were those enemies, and was there a way for her to get even stronger? How strong was too strong, and what if she was still far too weak?

  “All I can do is get as strong as I can as fast as I can, and then see. Hopefully it'll start making more sense soon,” she told herself.