Walking into the gym felt surreal.

  There was a wide open area with a bunch of treadmills where I could see a variety of people on them. A Hippo man, a Rhino woman, and a few normal humans. I blinked in shock when I saw a wind elemental in the far corner lifting weights somehow. Non-physical humanoids weren’t exactly common in Vega. I’d at least never seen any of them before.

  There were a few hallways that seemed to go to other parts of the gym and stairs that led to a second floor on the side as well. Observing some of the gym goers, I felt my mind struggle with what I was seeing. Of the people here, many of them were… below my power level. I hadn’t noticed it on our walk here but… seeing a bunch of people below [10] was… I’d never been one of the stronger people in the room. My brain and body felt light in a way they hadn’t before. Like what I was seeing wasn’t real.

  And it wasn’t even the only reality breaking element to it all.

  [20] A wolf man, sprinting down a treadmill almost faster than I could see. The treadmill was nearly silent despite how fast it was moving. His legs were an utter blur to me and yet he was almost as silent as the grave.

  [15] A normal human, curling dumbbells. Looking at the weight on the side… each was over 700 pounds! And he only looked moderately strained doing it! Shivers ran up my body, remembering the last time I’d seen that power level. That man, more than any other, felt like pure death to me despite him just… working out. Hell, he didn’t even look like a fighter!

  I nearly smacked myself, when would I learn? Looks mean nothing. He could be a cold blooded killer for all I knew. I’d nearly died to people wearing bear onesies.

  [??] A long legged, four armed woman. Her skin the color of obsidian, her eyes like literal red gems. She was getting a drink from the water fountain.

  [18] What looked like a… sentient doll? It was, somehow, bench pressing an impressive amount of weight in the back corner while a tiger woman with impressive abs spotted her.

  All of them, were people that could kill me. At [10] the ten percent rule fully started to come into play upwards. A [12] would be difficult for me. A [15] or higher? I’d be dead. And that was just power level alone. Experience, trickery, tactics, abilities… an experienced level [7] might kill me as I was.

  I blinked in shock. One of the first things I had done the moment I’d walked in… was assess who I could kill and who could kill me. That felt almost… disquieting. But how could I not? It felt like a pressure unlike any other. As if I was surrounded by those alligators or those chain wraiths again. It felt hard to breathe. Parts of me wanted to scurry away, to be silent, to hide in the dark and wait for the right moment to strike-

  A hand hit my chest. I looked down to see it was Master’s hand.

  “Oi. Focus. I’ve seen those eyes, I know that look. Good. Your trip into the sewers wasn’t for nothing. They can kill you Mutai. A lot of people can kill you Mutai.” He scratched his stubble. “You’re really not that strong actually. Use it as fuel to grow stronger.”

  “Yeah. I know. I will.”

  “Good, now come on. We gotta register.”

  *****

  Five minutes later and awkwardly watching Master flirt with an honest to god Robot, with literal abs of steel and other certain large assets, we were finally registered.

  “Really Master? Robots?”

  “We all have our interests. And it’s Androids.”

  I stared, confused.

  “What’s the difference?”

  “A robot will laugh if you call them an android. An android will kill you. Probably should research more cultures on Booble when you have the time. Hate to have you die on me from something so stupid.”

  I took that lesson to heart. Honestly, I should’ve done so far earlier. I’d learned early on through trial and error in my years here and that had been… rough. I might still have that scar from that one woman…

  “Alright, start on the treadmill.”

  I did so, walking onto it. The feeling of surrealness was dying down now. I was here to train, to get stronger. Who was around me, what I was doing, it didn’t matter so much, so long as I gave it my best. I did however frown and furrow my brow heavily at all the buttons and screens on the machine.

  “Master… I have no idea how to work this thing.”

  “That’s to be expected. Push start, use the arrows to select ‘personal best’, and set the time for an hour.”

  I did so and then I began to walk. It was slow and aggravating. I wanted to move more or less but it was like every step threatened to either launch me too far forward or not be enough to stay on.

  “Like I said,” Master said. “Too strong too fast. Look at that annoyance on your face just from walking at a steady pace.”

  It just felt so… slow. But I had to basically relearn everything I could do from the ground up.

  Slowly, it started to get faster and if I had any doubts about Master's words, they were blown away. Jogging was hellish. I nearly rammed the end of the treadmill and running steadily or consistently almost seemed impossible. It was like I kept putting in too little or too much. With great effort, I found my gait becoming steady.

  Only when I did, did the treadmill seem to pick up in speed. I raised my eyebrow at that. Technology could be surprising sometimes.

  Jogging became a light run and strangely, this one felt easier to handle. Which proved to be a mistake. The treadmill clearly only sped up when I was actually running steadily, a feature of the ‘personal best’ setting. Presumably when it became an all out sprint, there would be no way to stay steady and it’d stop increasing. Well, probably? And yet despite that, it took over twice as long for it to speed up again. Despite how it felt… my light run must’ve been completely wrong.

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  Now I was feeling it a little, my heart rate speeding up. I hadn’t run in… I hadn’t run since I had lived on my island and it had never been this fast. Even the jog from before was probably faster than I’d ever been able to move at my top speed. It felt incredible but was dulled a little. I’d run faster than this when I’d had to escape. Here, now, in a peaceful setting, I could admire it but it wasn’t lost on me why speed was important.

  Those thoughts left as the treadmill got faster and faster. My feet were slamming into the speeding thing, launching me forward without me ever actually moving forward. It was incredible! And my speed! I felt like I was flying! If I was on solid, flat ground, how fast could I be moving? And my heart, it, it started to pound into my ears.

  Breath heavy, heart racing, blood pounding, sweat beginning to pour down. I felt the burn in my legs and the pumping of blood through my heart. I could hear my own breathing, like a steam engine or valve constantly blowing. I needed air. Why, why was this so hard?

  “Try to steady your breathing.” Words came whispering by, flowing into my ears.

  I tried, I did, and I nearly fell over in the process. I was going so fast. My body felt so heavy I… why was this so intense? My heart… my heart! Fuck. Time continued but I felt like a zombie, I needed, I wanted to- damn it. I knew this wouldn’t be easy but what was this?!

  Time continued on and on and on and on. It felt like a nightmare. My body was drenched in sweat, my shirt stuck to me, and my chest heaved for air like I was suffocating.

  Finally, as if by the grace of a god, the demon machine I was on began to finally slow down. By the time it had gotten to a light walk, my feet hurt and I was still panting, but I felt better. And tired.

  “What,” I said between breaths of air. “What was that?”

  I looked to Master, who looked at me strangely with what could only be a cruel smile on his face. I felt my racing heart nearly skip a beat at that one. What an awful expression. One I’d never seen on his face before.

  “You’ve never run before have you?”

  “What?” I said. “I- I have. Before.”

  “Oh? Before when? Before… when you were running for your life? That doesn’t quite count. Before you broke through your first wall? That absolutely doesn’t count. You’ve never felt what it’s like to have to run for hours on end, keeping your heart rate above a certain level. It truly… sucks. It’s awful. I am so glad I get to introduce you to such an amazing experience.”

  “This…” I said, barely able to breathe. “This is one of those shared misery things, isn’t it?”

  “Oh yeah. Cardio has made even the strongest person run in terror before. And you’ll be doing this daily.”

  My aching heart nearly shattered. This? Every day?

  Renewed horror lit up inside me. The path to strength was truly built with blood, sweat, and tears.

  “Now go towel off and get a drink. We still have a lot of different machines to try today.”

  *****

  After a quick shower, stretches, some water, and marveling at a machine that somehow instantly washed and dried my clothes, I was ready to continue.

  For the next machine, it wasn’t a machine at all. Simply bars and weights. We made our way over to where all the dumbbells and barbells were in the back of the gym.

  “Alright, there’s a free rack.” Master said. “Go lay down and we’ll find your maximum and put you through your paces.”

  I lay down on the bench, the bar hovering over me. I was struck with a strange sense of happiness. Running may have sucked… but this wasn’t exactly the first time I’d been in a gym. Not one like this though. And back then, the whole feeling had been different. And useless. I hadn’t even been able to lift anything. Not a single dumbbell, not the bar, and even running normally practically failed, let alone on a treadmill. Now…

  I grabbed the bar and raised it. It was lighter than a feather.

  A wide smile sprouted across my face.

  “Put the bar back, I haven’t even added any weight yet.” Master said.

  I did so and my eyes widened in shock at some of the weights he was putting on. I didn’t catch the number but they were huge.

  “Uh… Master?”

  “Shut up and do as I say.”

  I closed my mouth, waiting to see what kind of trick this was.

  Finally, he stopped when he’d put twelve massive weights on each side.

  “Lift it.”

  I stared at Master in shock. Lift this?! There’s no way I could lift this! Hell, I couldn’t lift half of this!

  Master stared at me, his eyes going hard and cold. I suppressed any complaints. It was hard to complain when it looked like doing so would get me killed. I stared back at the bar and the massive amount of weight on it. How much even was this?

  “Don’t stare at it. Lift it.”

  Feeling like a kicked dog, I grabbed the bar. There was no way I could lift this much. Maybe that was the point? I pushed and felt my arms strain and strain. It felt like I was trying to lift a mountain! I grit my teeth and pushed as hard as I could, trying to bend my arms upwards. To my utter shock I started to feel… give?

  With renewed vigor I pushed with everything I had.

  Slowly, achingly, with shaking arms, I felt the weight go up and up and up. Like a miracle out of some sort of legend… I lifted it.

  And then nearly dropped it on top of me. Master grabbed it as my arms flopped down.

  My arms felt like jelly. That was… how could I even do that?! That.. was that how strong I was? What… what on Vega? With that much strength… no wonder I destroyed the punching bag. Wait, was that how strong the turtles were? How on Vega did we ever beat four of them? Did my arrogance know no bounds? We should’ve died and been left for dead for the rats to eat.

  A cold chill of thankfulness went through me. We had survived and I’d never forget to take my time and be cautious again. I thought I’d learnt that lesson but being at their strength… it put it all into a whole new perspective.

  “Strange, I’d thought you’d be ecstatic.”

  “This power… how can it even be possible Master?”

  He snorted.

  “You’ve barely begun your journey Mutai. Currently, your maximum running speed is about 27 miles per hour. Your maximum lift is 1400 pounds. These are good numbers… for your power level.”

  He curled the entire weight I had struggled with, with one arm. He didn’t even look phased by it.

  I stared in shock and amazement.

  “Welcome to planet Vega.”

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