"One... thousand." Ken groaned through the final one, gritting his teeth hard as he went along, and by the time he rose up, the system announced.

[You have gained 2 points to strength, stamina, speed]

He looked at the screen with a smile on his face.

"Hahahah, real-time progress, that’s what I like to see." He threw a few punches into the air to test his strength.

He could tell, from that thousand alone, despite being ridiculously tired, that he was growing.

He looked up at the sky and noticed that it was darker; he had gotten carried away with exercise that he lost track of time.

"I’m not done yet though. I’ve only worked on strength and my core. Still need to work on my speed, agility, and more. I can start now and end by midnight, that should be the best time to stop."

Ken decided on what to do next. He stood on his feet and decided to check the system stats first, then after that he would continue the training. He was already feeling much better at this point.

[Name: Ken]

[Race: Human]

[Mana: 10/10]

[EXP: 0/100]

[Strength: 31]

[Speed: 30]

[Stamina: 29]

[An astonishing growth, what monster are you]

He read the system remark at the end and smiled; even the system knew his greatness, and that was a good thing. The gods might have given him the basic package, but he wasn’t going to allow it to slow him down at all.

"Alright, now to some serious speed and stamina training," he said to himself, but then he recalled something. When he did push-ups, which were more for strength and stamina, the speed also increased, which was an unexpected aspect.

He wasn’t sure how the system worked, but he would have a better understanding after he was done with the next training.

He walked to one of the trees and lined himself against it, back to the tree and eyes locked on the other tree ahead. He wanted to go for short bursts from where he stood to the next tree across the clearing and see how well he would do.

Without another word, he bolted. His feet exploded off the ground like a rocket, using his signature running form that allowed him to lean a bit downward and ensure that the air flowed off him perfectly, allowing for a ridiculously fast burst of speed.

He got to the tree in under five seconds, but he didn’t stop or slow down; he had to plant his foot into the ground hard in order to stop himself.

"Arghhhhh!" he growled as he moved, his legs taking the shock constantly. If he made a single mistake, he could dislocate his leg.

He finally stopped and then spun around before bolting again to the first tree.

"Haha, it’s possible, yes. Now I have to do this a thousand times and regain control of my body," he said in happiness as he ran.

He moved extremely fast, and by the hundredth back and forth, the system rang out.

[2 points added to Speed and Stamina, 1 point added to Strength]

When he saw the notification, he got an idea of how the system worked. It seemed that for the well-known basics like push-ups, they added equally for each side, but for the types that were more specialized, the target area got more.

"Hmm, that’s pretty neat. That means a thousand pull-ups should help me level out, haha." He was in a jolly mood as he ran, and by the time he hit a thousand, he had gained a whole lot on speed and stamina stats, and also a pretty decent increase in strength.

"If I keep this up for a few months, I should be pretty good to go," he muttered. He turned around to look for a branch, eager to get to pull-ups, but then his stomach rumbled so loud that he was certain anything in the forest heard him.

"Ahh, I’m hungry."

He looked up, realizing that it was deep in the night and that he was yet to eat anything. He looked in the direction of his house.

"Hmmm, should I go home and eat? They probably have food." He thought about it for a while and then shook his head.

"No, no. I’ll find something to eat here, there has to be something."

With that thought in mind, he sat down cross-legged on the ground and shut his eyes. He immediately dropped all his senses into nothing and relied only on his ears; this was a technique that allowed him to hear things at least three to four times better.

He stayed in that position for quite a bit, but then he suddenly sprang to his feet, bolting forward like a bullet through the air. He dodged trees from left and right, yet also managed to run in a way that didn’t make too much sound.

When he got closer to his target, he immediately leaped into the air, catching a tree, swinging around and landing on the branch. He leaped from tree to tree like a monkey, a shadow through the night.

Then he finally arrived within range that he could see from, and there it was, drinking from the stream: a young deer-like animal, but it had a reddish type of skin with black dots and a third eye on its horned head. Its ears twitched as if it heard something, and it immediately turned to look. Ken hid behind the tree. The deer looked around but saw no one, then it returned to its drink.

’Hmm, I probably have only a single chance at this. Take the deer down in one go and that’s the end of this.’

He very quickly started looking around for the best route, and after a bit, the best solution he found was to use a distraction.

He quietly snapped a branch from the tree. It made a snap, but the deer didn’t turn.

Ken pulled his hand back and immediately hurled the stick into the far side of the water.