Three hours before Liam went to the gym.

Liam just got out of his bed and he already felt something odd within his body.

"This... This is weird."

The sudden vitality that he was feeling from the early days of his training to became stronger.

Maybe because he was in pain yesterday after running and have only rest for a few minutes, but he just noticed the strange feeling right now.

"I've felt something like this before."

While eating some fruits that he bought with the rest of his money, he kept thinking that the feeling surging inside his body wasn't that new to him.

After a while, he recalled something.

"Ah. The attributes...!"

He remembered the moment several days ago while he was still in the hospital.

At that time, he absorbed a part of the warrior-like terrorist's attributes and made his Strength shot up from 16 to 22.

The feeling he was getting now was quite similar to the feeling in the hospital.

Later after increasing his strength at that time, he subconsciously shifted his strength to his limbs that he soon use to beat the other terrorists.

And he got used to moving his strength since then.

'Did I get another strength moving ability like that time?'

Liam looked at both of his hands while in contemplation.

He tried to feel it inside him and accidentally repressed his strength while he was just attempting to shift it from one part of his body.

He was surprised. That was, no doubt, an incredible effect.

Looking back, him moving his strength several days ago wasn't considered a skill by the system.

"Does that mean every time that I will overcome a bottleneck, I'll get a self-contained ability that isn't a part of the system?"

As if to answer his question right away, the system notification appeared in front of him.

『 After overcoming a certain bottleneck, the host successfully obtained a passive skill which is placed in the Technique subcategory. 』

『 The skill called [Strength Control] lets the user to be able to control strength briefly with his will. Whether smoothly shifting the pure energy of strength to some part of the user's body or efficiently suppressing the user's own strength to a certain extent, strength can be completely controlled by the user himself. 』

"What...?"

Liam was in confusion after that.

The system didn't make a direct response, but it was an answer to Liam's question earlier.

And it was out of his expectation.

Now that the strength shifting ability was considered a part of the system, his apprehension of the system became a mess once again.

"So I can now completely control my strength and even restrain it. That's nice. And it's a technique so it can be upgraded. hah. That's even better. But..."

He trailed off his words and his expression changed from satisfaction to depression.

"My system is becoming even harder to understand..."

Breathing out a heavy sigh, he then moved his low-spirited body to sat on the couch and continued to think more and more.

After a long while of his deep understanding, he finally got a gist of the system's procession of skill.

When he got some Strength points and made the attribute go past 20, the reward, or more precisely the change, after he overcame the bottleneck, was him being able to divert his 'pure energy of strength' from some parts of his body.

That kind of effect wasn't normal for humans so Liam can obviously consider it as an ability or some sort.

That ability was a fruit of using the system, but it wasn't recognized as a skill by the system itself.

Or it wasn't... yet.

Liam can only assume it as an insufficient ability that needs another strength-stimulating ability and it was later confirmed to be true.

Yesterday, the moment he surpassed another bottleneck upon surpassing 30 attribute points, another ability affecting one's strength was once again obtained by Liam, but there's still no reaction from the system.

Then when Liam luckily used his new ability, the system considered it a skill, combining the shifting and suppressing of one's pure energy of strength.

As he finally thought that he got it right, he let out a sigh of relief.

"My endurance attributes went passed 20 level of points but I didn't feel a change. But after my training, I always feel an unusual vitality slowly growing inside my body, is it the effect? Or is it normal every time I level it up...?"

A moment later, he came into realization.

'Ah. It also passed the 30 level. I will have to try it.'

Liam put his feet on top of the couch and sat cross-legged.

'If I do this, I should be able to find and handle it inside me.'

Breathing deeply, he then started...

His meditation, that he actually learned from the internet.

Liam first calmed his mind and tried to enhance the senses within his body.

When he was doing meditations in the past, it was only to calm himself, but now was different.

He was trying to find the essence or energy of his strength inside his body.

Just thinking about it, it seemed like that cultivation in some novels...

But no need to get sidetrack.

It was not easy, but because he already knew how to shift his strength, it was only normal for him to find it within a few minutes.

Just as he finally felt it, he pictured the energy inside his mind, and tried to move it and suppress it to understand what will be its reaction.

Then he eventually learned it.

It seemed fluid base on how it felt and moved but it looked like a conceivable gas of blue energy every time Liam envisioned it.

Now that he was over finding his 'strength', he decided to search for his own 'endurance'.

He determined that the new effect of the endurance was the same as the strength-shifting ability, but he didn't even notice that he have it the first time.

He discovered that ability subconsciously and accidentally, so he won't entirely know how to search for the essence of endurance nor did he know how does it look or feel.

10 minutes.

30 minutes.

An hour already passed.

But Liam still can't perceive the gist of his endurance.

He even suppressed almost all of his strength because he thought it was overlapping with the other, but it didn't do a thing.

He soon stopped his meditation because he was starting to doubt and be skeptical.

'Does it truly not exist?'

Breathing out a heavy sigh, he continued to think deeply.

Liam can't stay in one position while his mind was being filled by hows and whys.

"Why can't I see it...?"

While comforting himself by melting with the couch and looking at the empty air, he recalled something.

"I only feel the vitality when my endurance attribute goes up by a... few...?"

A small wind of change blew across his house.

One of his bad traits, late realization came into effect.

"Huh? Ah... Ah! Ah, ah, ah!"

He suddenly jumped out of the couch.

"An idea!"

He looked left and right before tilting his head.

'Why am I standing again?'

He sat back to the couch.

"Whew, okay. Stat Window."

Looking at his own stats, his complexion brightened.

'Hm. I still have three distribution points.'

﹏ ﹏ ﹏ ﹏ ﹏ ﹏ ﹏

Stat Window

Name: Liam Keene

Level: 12 [72 / 140]

Job: none

HP: 33 (↑2)

MP: 20 (Replenish 2 pt every 1 min and 20 sec.)

Stamina: 39%

[Stats]

Strength: 30

Dexterity: 23

Intelligence: 20

Endurance: 31

Perception: 21

ATR Distribution Points: 3

﹏ ﹏ ﹏ ﹏ ﹏ ﹏ ﹏

"Hm. I should check the notification to see if there are any more rewards."

As Liam checked it, one window appeared.

『 You managed to survive several hits from an enemy with 10 levels or more higher than you. You gained 50 EXP Points, 5 ATR Points, and 2 Skill Points. 』

He widened his eyes in shock.

"Ten... Ten levels or more higher than me... He really just held back that time, huh."

Liam shook his heads and cleared the useless thoughts.

He arranged the five distribution points to all the attributes besides the Endurance.

Then he eventually put the rest to it.

﹏ ﹏ ﹏ ﹏ ﹏ ﹏ ﹏

[Stats]

Strength: 31 → 32

Dexterity: 23 → 24

Intelligence: 20 → 22

Endurance: 31 → 34

Perception: 21 → 22

ATR Distribution Points: 8→0

﹏ ﹏ ﹏ ﹏ ﹏ ﹏ ﹏

Liam suddenly stopped his movements.

"This is it... The vigorous energy in my body!"

He quickly went back to his meditation posture and calm himself.

He suppressed his strength and tried to find something.

A few seconds later, Liam's straight face twitched.

'This... Is this it?'

As soon as he felt something inside him, he put his entire focus on it.

Then a faint image appeared, pictured by Liam's perception and imagination.

"It's... a ball?" Liam spoke inwardly.

What he felt inside himself was a sphere-shaped energy which have a greenish hue.

It was different from the energy of strength where it covers the entire body with its essence.

It has the size of a marble.

It was placed in the middle of his body, just behind his solar plexus.

It was strange.

Liam can't help but to question it.

'How does it work?'

Of course, he knew no one but himself could resolve it, unless the system talked which he highly doubt it will.

So tried to inspect it a little more to find an answer.

'Before this feeling disappears, I need to familiarize myself with it. Then I can evaluate it somehow.'

After several minutes of his 'familiarizing', the feeling didn't fade away which was entirely good.

But after that, the process didn't get easy.

Liam focused on it further, tried to move it, felt it, he already did all the possible aspects to alter it but nothing seemed to be happening.

He even named it 'Endurance Orb' a while ago because he was tired of calling it longer.

He was about to give up completely.

But it was then that something changed.

The orb expanded, unknowingly becoming the size of a child's fist.

A dreary-colored twig suddenly appeared on top of the orb.

Then another one below.

Before the two twigs sprouted like a maturing root everywhere at an unbelievable pace.

It was almost like a scattered spider web as it kept growing inside Liam's body. It continued until it reached every end of the body.

The orb abruptly shone, at the same time, the roots gained vitality as it also have the color similar to the orb.

"This is... This even more confusing to comprehend..."

Several more minutes passed before Liam gave up finding the answer to what the 'endurance roots' can do.

﹏﹏ ﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏ ﹏﹏

Present Time

THWACK!

"Ah. Oh, he blocked it?" Liam said inwardly.

He was a bit surprised when his opponent successfully blocked his attack, but it was not out of his expectation since he restrain a bit of his strength.

'He even looked fine. He's stronger than I thought.'

Liam was right, his opponent, Enma, didn't seem affected by the attack.

But although he was looking fine on the outside, he still felt troubled.

'I knew it. This guy isn't normal.'

Enma thought as the arm he used to block the punch was feeling numb.

A second after getting hit, he averted his defense, and shot a fist directly to Liam's chest.

Unfortunately, for Enma, his opponent have quicker reflexes than normal people and also have an above-average speed.

With a basic footwork, Liam slightly bend from the waist up to the side, slipping out of the way of the jab.

After his jab didn't land on its target, Enma took one step forward, and hook his left fist towards Liam's face.

'He can't possibly dodge this.'

While his enemy was cheaply figuring the outcome, Liam already move his forearms to block the incoming strike.

'Oh. He has good strength too.'

Thinking that, it gave him an idea.

Maybe he's on the same level of power as the warrior terrorist he fought with difficulty.

Just by assuming about it made him pleased inside. Perhaps he could even use this guy to test his strength between him and the past him.

Although the warrior terrorist was deadly mostly because of his several dangerous skills, he also have the superiority of attributes which made Liam had a hard time fighting with him.

'I see that his major potency is resilience which made him attack almost immediately even after getting a hit himself.'

Another decent fighter was facing Liam. That fact made him quite satisfied while thinking,

This is gonna be a long fight.

After a profound breath, Enma made quite a good footwork that made him in an advantageous position to hit his opponent with continuous strikes.

He easily did five moves.

Two straight punch, Two jabs, and one hook. All of it didn't land on Liam's vital spots by either him blocking or dodging it.

But his posture got messy when they were almost at the corner of the ring, making Enma took the slight chance and hit him between the shoulder and the chest.

'I finally hit him. Most speedy guys don't have quite the endurance... Is he one of them?'

Another assumption of Liam being weak.

He have the thought that he will have a hard time recovering if he's body was frail enough.

But what his opponent did made him a bit confused.

'Is it just me... Or did he smile?'

Without asking any further, he tried to strike him with a right hook due to believing his target was already cornered.

And it was a mistake.

Liam ducked and successfully dodged the punch and without a second passing, he took a step forward and strode towards Enma's side, with his fist already stretching towards his face.

Tak! It was a clean hit.

Now both of them have a hit to each other.

Enma barely withstood the impact that caused his vision to slightly darkened for a few seconds.

After that, he immediately fixed his position and fronted his opponent once again.

whew.

"I don't want to admit this myself but... I don't think this ordinary sparring with a gym assistant will last long." He spoke to himself inwardly.

While he was recovering his smooth breathing and prepared his fist, Liam was thinking the exact same thing.

'I'm assuming this fight will somehow turn serious.'

It began.

Liam was the first one to move as he shortened their distance.

Enma slowly moved forward and did a spiritless jab to test Liam.

A crazy decision was made on Liam's mind. He won't conceal his strength and test his opponent's endurance.

'He has quite a buffed body nothing could go wrong...'

Clenching his fist, he folded his right arm.

He was about to stretch it.

But then.

Ding! Ding!

"Hey! The quick match is over. You both hit each other once so you can get down here now."

The manager announced as he glanced at the two guys who were making such a serious expression while on the ring.

"Ah. Oh, it's over." Liam glanced back at his manager.

He was feeling regretful inside.

'It was just a sparring match after all.'

While Liam already accepted the conclusion and cleared his lamenting, the other guy on the ring was unusually still raring to fight.

"Manager... Eight hundred dollars. A betting match." Enma reclaimed.