David had signed the contract about two weeks ago and he was still adjusting to his new lifestyle. After 3 days of sitting around and doing nothing, Mr. Gauge and Mr. Lester had came to visit him to present a training schedule. 12 hours a day of training. Today was one of those full days of trading. David was thankful that the Carmine Corporation gave him at least the weekend off of work for recovery. Yes. Recovery.

Unlike the guards that trained in between their tasks, David didn't have any job task except training. The Carmine Family wanted him as strong as possible, as quick as possible. So his training matched that demand.

"Today is going to be a long day," David said to himself as he hopped out of his bed feeling slightly tired from a lack of sleep. He had a late night date with Karine last night....he only got to close his eyes for about 4 hours, so he was dragging a bit. After falling asleep, he had immediately entered his dream realm in an attempt to recharge himself. It just wasn't enough time.

After slipping on a pair of workout clothes, David grabbed his breakfast and shot out of his apartment door. In a few minutes, he had devoured his breakfast and made his way to the basement gym for his daily workout.

"You are late," Mr. Lester said in a disgruntled tone as David ran into the gym.

"I was out late last night with Karine. We had to go to a charity benefit for the zoo. They are trying to hustle up money to staff the night exhibit that will open up in about 6 months," David said trying to justify himself.

"Quit your yapping. I don't care. Hit the weights first. You need to keep your body strength balanced when you start cultivating body enhancement techniques. You are so far behind. It isn't funny. You may be the most elementally talented person that I know, but there are kids in The Other physically stronger than you," Mr. Lester replied in an aggressive manner.

David has been going through some pretty intense physical strengthening with Mr. Lester. This physical training occupied the majority of David's morning until about lunch. Everyday weekday....for 6 hours...from 6:00 AM to Noon. 1 hour of weight training, 1 hour of running, 1 hour of sparing, 1 hour of swimming, 1 more hour of weight training, then 1 more hour of sparing. David wouldn't be able to keep up the pace if the Carmine Group didn't provide recovery medicines that came from the Other.

Unusually, Mr. Lester continued to lecture while David was getting started on the bench press, "In the thousands of years since The Other was first encountered by humans, most humans have relied on their physical prowess to survive. In those days, the humans were familiar with life threatening battle. After seeing methods used by demons and devils, the humans started developing methods of their own to increased their physical abilities beyond that of normal men. Mental abilities are inborn, but physical abilities are about effort. Those guys back then really knew how to put in the work."

David understood all of this very well. In his past fights, he had relied on stealth and cunning to survive. If one thing would have went wrong and he would have had to actually confront these people head on....he probably would have died. Atkins gave him the perfect example when he ripped off David's arm with his bare hands. With his weakness always in his mind, he put as much effort as possible into training his body.

The work out continued at a grueling intensity until Mr. Lester stopped David to discuss something.

"I have brought books on the three most basic body training methods here for you to read over and get started," Mr. Lester said, "With enough effort, training these methods should be able to bring your body up to an acceptable level so you do not immediately die in the Other. Take the books home to review them and then pick one that you feel most comfortable with. Bring the other two books back to me when you are done. Don't lose them and don't let other people read them."

"Even if you are going to focus on mental stuff like those darkness techniques that Gauge is teaching you....you still need to not die from randomness on a battlefield. Class SS elemental mages typically train their body to at least a Class B Warrior level. It is a necessity to keep them from dying when a few random rocks fly around from a high level Warriors' fight."

"What are you talking about? How can a Class SS mage also be a Class B warrior? This level shit is confusing. I bet the guy that came up with it all was a jackass", David responded giving the old man some grief.

Mr. Lester glanced around then paused looked at David seriously and said with a grin, "Do you promise not to say anything if I tell you a secret?"

David shook his head to indicate that he agreed. He was so confused with these so called levels that he had given up hope on understanding them.

"David, from the grand scheme of things, there are no real defining differences between people from Class F to Class SS. They are all just normal people with different levels of training. Once they get to Level A, they start to dabble in training elemental skills and body enhancement methods. However, the actual levels are all just some arbitrary levels to try to group the various people on Earth into strength levels for management and training reasons," Mr. Lester said really driving a nail into David's confusion, "Don't get me wrong. The higher ranked people still have exceptional power compared to normal people....it's just that in the Other, they are all just normal."

"For example, on a general basis, I would classify you as a Class B Scout when assigning you to a team for a task. If it was solely based on your physical ability, then you would only be a Class E Warrior that's not that different than a regular person. If it was based on elemental ability alone then you are probably a Class SS Darkness Mage because you are starting to learn the basics of a skill with Gauge. If you told someone in a Earth-based team that you were a Class B Scout then they should be able to approximate your general strength pretty easily. If you said that you were a Class B Scout on a team in The Other, they wouldn't know what to think.....then they would kill you for being an idiot in order to not drag down the team," Mr. Lester said with a big laughing smile on his face.

"The letter based level system is entirely just an Earth system. Some jackass came up with the system years ago to try to give meaning to the weaker people. In the Other, our Level Zero people are the only people that have any real value...the rest are just normal people or cannon fodder soldiers for the military. We even called it Level Zero to remind us that we are really just getting started....ha ha," Mr. Lester laughed, "it's like an inside joke for those of us that know."

"In The Other, Level Zero is just the beginning. It isn't even called Level Zero in The Other. It's called the Foundation Stage. It's called the Foundation Stage because you are just getting started. If we told everyone on Earth that the strongest people that they know on this planet were only at the beginning level in the Other....they wouldn't have any thought of succeeding. It would be like telling a beggar that he can be a billionaire if he invests his money properly....ha ha ha," Mr. Lester laughed. For some reason, he thought this was comical.

"The main reason for the differences in strength is the environment in the Other. It is harder to exist in the Other and you need to be at least at the start of the Foundation Stage to just survive the environment as a human. Once you get there, it is easier to cultivate because of the general atmosphere, resources are more readily available and there are a constant flow of life-or-death situations. It grows power, Earth just supplies the seeds with the hope that some of them sprout."

"The only reason I am telling you this information is because of your potential and the agreement you signed with the Carmine Family. Anyone else wouldn't have the right to know. So do not say anything to anyone. If there is one thing that I can teach you, it is that you are extremely weak even if you think you are the strongest around...Now don't slack off on your training," Mr. Lester yelled.

David almost passed out from listening to this speech. He was so distraught that he dropped the weights on himself. Mr. Lester had to help him lift the bar off of his chest before he was crushed to death. He couldn't even bench press a bar with 225 pounds of weight on it.....and a guy that could rip his arm off with bare hands would have been just a common foot soldier in The Other.

David didn't know what to think anymore. He had just been rudely introduced to the reality of the world of cultivation. He knew that he was still very weak and insignificant. The reason he was treated nicely is because of his potential and possible ties to someone strong. Other than that, he would have been relegated to being a cannon fodder guard for the rest of his life. Now...he really understood why those guys were willing to risk their lives to kidnap Karine for a chance at opportunity in The Other. They must have learned the truth of the situation and felt desperate to advance. David started to feel a bit sorry for the men that he had slaughtered.

"Oh well," David thought snapping himself out of his reflection, "I don't give a shit about their reasons. They shouldn't have threatened me and the people I care about. I'll kill anyone that threatens me and mine. I really need more strength."

David continued to workout with a reinstated vigor. To anyone else he would have looked like a lunatic, but Mr. Lester was happy.

Mr. Lester smiled off to the side watching. He had guessed that David wasn't the type to be discouraged by the truth. He had hoped that David would use it as fuel to get stronger.

As he watched David doubled effort, he couldn't help smile knowing he was right.