He tiraveling for the 30 minutes, c over a hundred kilometers. This time, his route wasn’t in a straight line; he had to make several detours to avoid ied humans and animals, which were more numerous here thahe Bastion.

  Finally, he reached a quiet area with no ied in sight. He entered a house and checked ea to e was clear of zombies.

  Once he was certain the house was secure, he barricaded himself in a bathroom in the basement. Opening his backpack, he was relieved to see that the syringes were intact. ‘I thought the syringes might have shattered with all the movement I made during my escape from the Bastion.’

  ‘Rec the serum from broken syringes and drinking it would’ve been a mess... and probably less effective. Luckily, these syringes are built tough. Still, I really o get an iory system after I leave this world—it’d be useful in practically every situation.’

  He took out a syringe filled with blue liquid beled “Tier 1 Serum.” “Well, no time like the present,” he murmured, iing the serum into his arm.

  A warm sensation spread through his body, but it remaiolerable. After only a mihe feeling faded.

  [Your body has fully absorbed the Tier 1 Serum. +10 in all physical stats.]

  Five mier

  [Your body has fully absorbed the Tier 2 Serum. +20 in all physical stats.]

  Ten mier

  [Your body has fully absorbed the Tier 3 Serum. +40 in all physical stats.]

  Thirty mier

  [Your body has fully absorbed the Tier 4 Serum. +80 in all physical stats.]

  One hour ter

  [Your body has fully absorbed the Tier 5 Serum. +160 in all physical stats.]

  By the time he finished abs all five serums, he received a quest pletion notification.

  [Quest: Peak Body pleted.Reward: 4K LP]

  He looked at his atus

  “Status”

  [Name: Mikael Angelini

  Race: Human (Aedris World)

  Lifespan: 21/99

  Overall Power: Tier 1

  Military Rank: Recruit 0/10 MP

  Global Level Tier 1 Race Level: 10/50Experience: 1,5K/91K XP

  Css: Sword MasterLevel: 26/50Experience: 17,5K/18.2K XP

  Stats:

  Strength: 88 → 103 → 423

  Agility: 100 (MAX) → 156 → 476

  Endurance: 89 → 104 → 424

  Vitality: 100 (MAX) → 128 → 448

  Perception: 100(MAX) → 127 → 447

  Active Skills: None

  Active/Passive Skills:

  Body Refining Teique: Tier 0, Level 3

  Passive Skills:

  Unarmed Martial Arts Mastery: Tier 0, Level 1 → 2

  Footwork Mastery: Tier 0, Level 2 → 3

  6th Seier 0, Level 1 → 2

  Swordsmanship Mastery: Tier 0, Level 3 → 5 (MAX)

  Life Points (LP): (+7110) 7220]

  "Damn," he murmured. ‘No wonder I was at a disadvantage against Aaliyah when just taking the five serums gave me 320 in all physical stats.’

  Mikael looked down at his fist, g it and feeling the power c through his body. The se might’ve been a lot more epic if his shirt weren’t in tatters from all the bullets he’d taken…

  He took a step forward.

  Crack

  The wooden floor under his foot split from the sheer force of his movement. ‘Alright, my trol over my own strength has seriously gone downhill. I barely walk without breaking the floor I’m more like an elephant walking than a human.’

  ‘Now that I think about it, it kind of makes sense. I suddenly got three or even four times strohan before, so using the same amount of strength as I did earlier is bound to have a different oute. I’ll o stay here to adapt, because this is ridiculous.’

  Mikael spent some time practig basic tasks—walking, opening doors, other “simple” activities. These were normally effortless, but by the time he’d achieved det trol, the house was in ruins. The door handles were mangled, and the floor looked like a minefield.

  He then stepped outside to test his maximum speed. Positioning himself, he unched like a rocket, kig up dust from his high-speed takeoff.

  As he picked up speed, he felt the wind hammering against him, which signifitly slowed him down. But he pushed harder, going faster and faster, until he broke the sound barrier!

  Of course, Mikael didn’t hear the soni himself, since he was moving faster than sound. But wheopped a few seds ter, he heard the deyed, thunderous crack of the sound barrier breaking behind him.

  A smirk crossed Mikael’s face. ‘With my ats, I should be able to lift around 4 tons, run faster than sound, withstand high-caliber bullets, heal broken bones within hours, a’s not fet that my senses are dht ridiculous.’

  ‘I see tens of kilometers away, and all my other senses are just as heightened. Fortunately, my senses are “magical” enough that I trol their iy. Otherwise, having my taste and smell heightened 400 times over could get… inve.’

  Finished with his thoughts, Mikael entered a random house, waited for five mihehis world.

  When he appeared in the Hub, it was even more bustling tha time. Thanks to his enhanced senses, he overheard parts of several versations.

  “For the military missions, are you pnning to do them?” asked a male voice.

  “Yeah, I’m determio. We ’t pete with the monsters at the top of the level leaderboard, so our best ce is to perform well on the Military leaderboard. That way, Guilds will scout us, and we get fame and riches,” replied aed female voice.

  He caught ss of other versations about military missions and the military leaderboard. What captured his attention was the mention of Guilds. ‘So there are Guilds oh that pay to recruit famous and strong pyers? I don’t really see the appeal of joining them when I travel to different worlds through the Records. pared to that, what’s the value of money?’

  While he was lost in thought, he received several notifications.

  [Military Missions are now unlocked. The first mission will begin ily 23 hours, 07 minutes, and 03 seds. If you want to participate, please register. Yes / No]

  [The Military leaderboard will opehe first person pletes a military mission.]

  ‘No wonder everyoalking about these Military missions; it seems they’re a new feature.’

  He mentally asked, “Records, you provide more details on these military missions?”

  [Military MissionsDescription: These are special missions issued by the Records. By accepting these missions, you will be transported to a world with other natives from Earth. Missions vary greatly, and you’ll receive a description just before entering the world, at which point you choose to accept or refuse it.

  In the mission world, all the usual Records rules are deactivated, and anything is allowed. You may only leave the mission world when the mission is pleted. The mission you receive will be based on your stats, but you opt for a more challenging mission if you find it too easy. However, you ot select missio for pyers with lower stats than yours.

  Rewards: Upon pleting a mission, you’ll be graded, which determihe number of Military Points you earn, also influenced by the mission’s difficulty. Once you’ve accumuted enough Military Points, you upgrade your Military Rank, which grants various bes, including a basic redu in all LP costs.]

  He raised an eyebrow at the missioails, then decided to return to his apartment to ge and think in a quieter enviro. His tattered shirt and physique caught the occasional gnce from some women.

  He had a fit body with well-defined abs—six-pack visible. Before joining the Records, he only had a hint of definition, but with all the training he’d doly, bined with his new race's physical enhas, had made the abs a reality.

  In any case, he ighe looks and headed up the stairs to his apartment. There, he took a shower and ged into fresh clothes.

  After his shower, he y on his bed, refleg. ‘These Military Missions… They sound nice, especially with the LP cost redu on anything that uses LP. But I doubt the redu will be signifit.’

  ‘I’m guessing it’ll be something small, like 1%, and even if it’s higher—say, 10%—it’s still too risky. My body’s strong, but my enemies, whether humans or other beings, won’t necessarily rely on physical attacks.’

  ‘If they use mind or soul attacks, I could be taken down instantly. And even if they don’t have access to these type of attad instead wield magic or simir energies, things could still go south fast since I don’t have any energy unlocked yet. Hell, I don’t even have access to the spiritual stats system.’

  ‘So yeah, I won’t participate in the missions, at least until I have some kind of energy I actually use. Right now, the risks are just too high. My body is strong enough; what I really need now is access to some form of energy—like mana, aura, qi, or life force.’

  ‘These are what will really help me grow. For example, if I wao destroy a city block with just my physical strength, my stats would o be insanely high. I don’t know the exaumber, but maybe around 100K—and that might eveoo low.’

  ‘I’d need my body to be that powerful so that my punches would produce shockwaves strong enough to level multiple buildings at once. In parison, with magic, I’d still o be strong, but I could just cast a wide-area spell, and the job would be done.’

  After reag this clusion, he began to check the System Shop frades that would help him in his quest to bee even stronger.

  [Spiritual Stats System. Requirement: Basic Stats System

  Unlock the spiritual stats. Them being intelligence, spirit, and energy. Price: 1,2K LP]

  [Iory System. Requirement: None

  The user will gain an iory that will allow him to stock items in a pocket space of 10m3. In the pocket space, the time is frozen. If the user wants he have a list of all the items in his iory and he take them out with just a thought. Price 2K LP]

  [Basic Background System. Requirement: None

  Allow to create a background in the world you will be expl at the cost of LP. The background could be for example: You were from a well-off family but 3 years ago when you were 13 your parents died and you started living alone, now you are ready to bee an adventurer since you have the minimum age of 16. Price 2,5K LP]

  He chose to buy all three systems, which brought his remaining LP down to 1,52ht after pleting the purchases, he braced himself for the usual pain that came with unlog ats.

  But this time, there was no pain. Instead, he felt strange—in a good way. His head felt light, and a warm, f sensation spread through his entire being.

  The feeling sted for about five minutes before fading. Mikael thought to himself, ‘First time I actually feel good while doing something that’s supposed to make me stronger.’

  Even after the sensation disappeared, he felt as if a barrier around his mind had broken. His thoughts were clearer and seemed to flow faster. But as he’d read iat descriptions, he hadn’t suddenly bee twice as smart—just a minor improvement. Still curious, he decided to check his stats.

  “Status ”

  [...

  Stats:

  Strength: 423

  Agility: 476

  Endurance: 424

  Vitality: 448

  Perception: 447

  Intelligence: 11 → 21

  Spirit: 11 → 21

  Energy: No Energy unlocked for the moment

  …]

  ‘Now that’s a good step forward. I move on to a world where I unlo energy type! Normally, I’d rest, but with my high stats, I’m not eveely tired.’

  ‘The only issue is Kiara… I think I’ll be iher world for a while, so I don’t know how she’ll reay prolonged absence. Sure, I don’t owe her an expnation, but she’s clearly infatuated with me, and I’m not sure how she’ll ha hearing from me.’

  He mulled over this problem for a bit before deg, ‘I’ll send her a message through the Records to let her know it’ll be a while until we see each ain.’