Rey punched the air with everything he had. He did a set of three punches followed by a set of kicks to work up a sweat. This was his regular warm-up routine. He didn't have much space here to run, but he did that, too. He just ran in place. Once he was ready, his true training for the day began.

  Three days had passed since he started his training. In that time, he had seen so many notifications pop up that he wondered if there was an ad-blocker Talent.

  Today, he decided to increase his gravity again. He was accustomed to ten percent, and it was time to raise it to twenty percent. He jumped into a push-up position, activated Gravity's Domain, and increased gravity.

  Immediately, he was pushed down but didn't drop to the ground. He pushed himself up with all the strength he had mustered in the past three days. Going down was the easy part, but coming back up practically took everything he had.

  [+1 Strength]

  He didn't stop until he did ten push-ups, then he let himself fall to the ground. He lay on the hot sand huffing, and the invisible boulder kept him there.

  The past three days had been a blur. He couldn't remember the last time he had worked so hard to get stronger. Actually, he could remember. It was in preparation for the tournament of Makor. He had to win that tournament; there was no two ways. For two reasons, one was that every fight was to the death, so taking an L meant taking a last breath. Secondly, the prize was a night with three succubuses and two Forever shards.

  He was not about to pass up a prize like that, and the Forever Shards were nice too. He couldn't wait to fight in that tournament again, but that was a few years off. Besides, before that, he needed to get to the B-Tier. So, it was a long, long way off.

  After a minute of lying on the hot, foul-smelling sand, as if someone had taken a shit nearby, which he had. Since he had been doing everything in this increased gravity field—eating, sleeping, and all other bodily functions.

  He pushed himself off and extended his hand to the rocks he had used as weights. He used Attraction and called the smallest one to him. It came flying, and Rey nearly dropped it immediately. The thing weighed more than it had yesterday, but that was obvious.

  Still, he managed to hold onto it, did some exercises with it, and got a steady stream of notifications, mostly for three things.

  [+1 Strength]

  [+1 Endurance]

  [+1 Willpower]

  He had to admit that his body was getting chiseled, as if Michelangelo himself was carving up Rey to look like a Greek god. His biceps were getting bulkier, and even the fat on his stomach was withering away. He saw a hint of some abs poking from underneath.

  Not quite a six-pack like he used to have. More like a two-pack starter kit, but it was progress. When he had remade his body in Hellfire, he had given himself an eight-pack. Dad bod Rey was a thing of the past.

  Then, once his stamina was about two-thirds spent, he wanted nothing more than to curl up for a nap. He sat on the ground and started his other exercises. The ones that focused on the stats that he most lacked. As it turned out, his estimate was correct. The increased gravity made it easier to level up his Magic Affinity and Magic Power stats. Maybe because the stones he was lifting with his Mana were heavier, was his best guess.

  He shrugged and started his juggling act. He attracted another rock to himself. This one was bigger than the one he had used for his workout.

  He started throwing them away towards the river with Repulsion and bringing them back right before they hit the water with Attraction. He didn't let them touch the water's surface, not after what happened two days ago.

  A fucking snake-like demon burst out of the water, more than angry at Rey for some reason. Maybe he didn't like Rey splashing the water so much, or perhaps the snake was a dick and thought he could get an easy meal, but instead got pancaked.

  But Rey couldn't complain. The thing had given him enough meat that he was still eating it two days later.

  Maybe I'll pelt the water again when I run out of food.

  He shrugged and focused on his training. As he did, he noticed something. His rocks would fly faster and farther when they exited the Domain and immediately slow down when they returned.

  He attributed it to gravity. Since they were heavier, it would have something to do with momentum. However, he didn't know enough physics to figure that out.

  [+1 Magic Affinity]

  [+1 Magic Power]

  He did this until he had almost depleted his Mana, which had grown at a steady pace. He was almost getting to the point that he couldn't complain anymore about having low Mana. It was getting quite respectable for his rank. Soon, it would be at the point that it would be straight up absurd for his rank, and he couldn't wait for that to happen. Then he'd stroll around flattening things like a toddler with a new hammer.

  Besides, there was a point to do all this mind and body numbing stat training, which would only take effect once he hit the D-Tier, because Mr. Dicklord Supreme couldn't bother to spend just a few extra shards to make the E-Tier coherent with the rest of the system.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

  Once he was out of Mana, he took a break, drank some water, and decided to focus on his other stats that were harder to level up, aside from Dexterity, which fell into his lap like an overly enthusiastic stripper with glitter.

  So, he did precisely that. He picked up his scythe and started practicing all the moves his Scythe Mastery skill had poured into his brain.

  ***

  Rey jumped around, and his body felt quite normal. For one, he didn't feel like an invisible hand was keeping him bowed anymore. After all, he was playing in fifty percent gravity now. He had been for the past five days, and by God, he was jacked.

  If Sergei saw him now, he would think he was training to take his title of Hell's Mr. Olympia. He was sure that he could compete with the Russian if he didn't use his strength-enhancing skills, which basically made him the Hulk.

  I'm sure I could wrestle that snake without even using any skill, and I've got more than enough experience handling long, slippery things.

  He stretched and decided to eat some food, only to realize that his food was running low and that no demons were in sight. He had even thrown a burning log away from his campsite, hoping it would attract some demons, and it had, but there weren't many demons who wanted to play with someone who was at Rank 5. They would sniff about, take a look at Rey, and then fuck right off.

  After all, he was only at the border of this nightmare kingdom. Any farther in, and he would've been getting regular visits from demons and other races alike who would've loved to tear him a new one, which they wouldn't need to bother with, as that would've already happened by then.

  He looked to his signalling beacons, which informed the demons where he was. The torch he had thrown past the tree was still burning, but his campfire was out. This made Rey frown.

  How is it that a single log kept burning, but an entire bonfire went out faster?

  He had noticed this happen a few times, and he couldn't figure out why. The only difference was that the campfire was in Gravity's Domain while the torch was far out. He wondered if there was a time dilation thing happening.

  He shrugged and went to light his campsite again, but he paused. He wasn't particularly hungry. Since he had the time, he wanted to see if he could handle more gravity. After all, his goal was to achieve one hundred percent gravity. In the past two weeks, he had jumped up to fifty percent, maybe a little more time, and he could've surpassed this easily, but he wanted to at least try what a hundred percent gravity felt like.

  He activated Gravity's Domain, upped the gravity once more, and immediately got bitch slapped into the ground. Though he didn't fall on his face. He only fell to one knee and struggled to get up. However, he was bent over like an old man looking for the last fuck he had dropped.

  Thankfully, he didn't embarrass himself like Yamcha did when he entered Vegeta's training chamber.

  "Vegeta would not be proud of me. I'm sorry, my prince." He cleared his throat and tried to imitate the prince of all sayains. "One hundred percent gravity is a man's playfield, Rey. You're just not ready for it."

  "Oh, yeah, well then maybe I should become a Super Sayain like you."

  He roared in determination but failed to become a Super Saiyan. He at least managed to get into a standing position, but that was all he could do. Anything more, and he would shit out his spine.

  [+1 Endurance]

  Yeah, okay, I take it back. I cannot handle a hundred percent gravity.

  Before he shut off the gravity, he saw dust rising off to the right. He wouldn't have noticed it if it weren't for his stat training.

  The wolf-like demons, Wargoth, had come thinking they had found dinner, but little did they know that they were about to be dinner themselves. Not to mention, their hide was perfect for his outfit for his trip to Narzroth.

  There were about five of them, and he used Identify on the biggest one, who was in the lead—the alpha.

  [Wargoth (Exiled) – E+5]

  Rey grinned and stood in superhero pose with his fists on his hips, waiting for the half-wolf, half-goat-like demons to fall into his Domain, and they did, so spectacularly.

  The pack growled and barked as they came for him. The alpha lunged for Rey, only to crash to the ground as soon as he hit the increased gravity. Rey cackled as they all were pinned to the ground, struggling to get up, but try as they might, they could barely get their rumps off the ground.

  But there was something else, he noticed. They had slowed down considerably at the edge of the Domain before they crashed into the ground. It was as if they were moving through jelly. It only lasted a split second. If it had been only one demon, he would've disregarded it, but since it happened to all of them, it was hard to ignore.

  He could've killed them as they lay pinned to the ground, but it was time to test-drive his shiny new hard work.

  He deactivated Gravity's Domain altogether. He drew a deep breath and could swear even the air felt light, and it was definitely easier to breathe. He stretched, did a few light jumps, and then pushed hard and cleared nearly six feet.

  He cried out in excitement. He jumped, and did it again. It was like he was flying. Well, not really flying. He was jumping extra high, and it wasn't like he was bending his legs or anything.

  The demons were off the ground and staring at him pensively as he jumped around childishly. Like he had just discovered he could jump this high, which he had. The alpha put a stop to his fun by howling, giving the signal to attack.

  Rey sighed and dashed to the howling Wolfie first, and he didn't know his own speed. Even to his eyes, it looked like one moment he was standing and a short blur later, he was amongst the demons.

  Whoa! Am I the flash now?

  He took the advantage of the moment, gripped the demon's head, and twisted it. Its head spun a full one-eighty. Rey was sure that he hadn't possessed this level of strength before. But then he had been working out for nearly eight hours every day.

  [You killed a Wargoth (Exiled) – E+5]

  [+1 Strength]

  He kicked the demon next to him in the side, and he felt ribs break. The demon half cried out and half bayed as it was hurled into its friend. Its legs trembled as it writhed in pain. Rey moved to the next demon that lunged for him, and he punched its snout, flooring the thing. Then he kicked it away.

  He rushed to the next one, which was so surprised at how fast Rey had appeared in front of it that it backed up a step.

  "Say night-night."

  Rey pulled out his dagger and jammed it down into his skull.

  [+1 Dexterity]

  [You killed a Wargoth (Exiled) – E+4]

  The best part was that he had no trouble pulling it out at all. He moved for the wolf whose ribs he had broken. He stabbed it in the heart and stopped its crying once and for all. A geyser of black blood burst out of its chest as Rey pulled the blade out.

  [You killed a Wargoth (Exiled) – E+4]

  The final two demons ran rather than face Rey, but he wasn't about to just let them go. After all, he needed their fur, bones, and claws, and other bits to make his outfit.

  He 'Get over here'd the closest one and ripped open its back from tail to its head. Blood sprayed everywhere, but luckily, Rey had a river to wash his clothes in.

  [You killed a Wargoth (Exiled) – E+5]

  The fifth one had gotten quite far, and Rey let it go. Besides, he didn't need so many furs to make his new clothes.

  He cleaned the knife on the fur of one of the demons. After all, the dirtier it was, the better it would conceal Rey's scent. Before this fight, he would've had trouble believing that he was ready for Narzroth, but now, he may be over-leveled. He glanced at the dagger before placing it back in his belt.

  I hope you're doing okay, Kassi.