Checking his watch, Ryan saw that time flew by.

16:00

Ryan thinks for a moment, then smiles widely, saying,

"Well, I'm going to work you to the bone! But first, we must eat!"

About an hour later, after Ryan and Mark ran to the store to get some ingredients, they arrived back at the house and set it all down in the kitchen. Mark decided to make some chicken paella to celebrate his awakening. Grabbing a lidded-pan, a plate, and a bowl, he seasoned the chicken thighs and cooked them in the pan. He then transferred the chicken to a plate and, with another set of chicken thighs, added them to the pan. He then added onion, garlic, and a few other spices in the pan, then cooked for a few more minutes.

While it was cooking, he added saffron, lemon juice, and lemon rinds into a bowl and stirred. Setting it aside, he added rice into the pan and cooked it for another few minutes. Next, he added the lemon mixture, some salt, and some stock. He then added in the rest of the chicken, and cooked for a while longer. He then added peas, and cooked for another few minutes.

Finishing the cooking, he plated it and got some glasses of water. Mark was about to take it over to the table when suddenly, a message appeared in front of him.

Progress has been made towards ability unlock requirement. (0.01%)

Surprise surfaced on Mark's face. He was unsure why this message appeared, but he assumed it had something to do with the meal he just made. Pausing for a moment, he focused on the system icon.

Stats Abilities Titles Focus on one of the options above to expand it.

He focused on the 'Abilities' option.

Abilities

Enhancement - The ability to temporarily enhance an aspect of yourself.This ability has two sub-abilities.

Enhanced Physique -Temporarily enhance your physique, increasing your strength, endurance, and speed.

Enhanced Regeneration - Enhance your natural regeneration, recovering from wounds and exhaustion quicker.

Locked.

Reach 100% to unlock.

Current percentage: (0%)

Locked.

Reach 100% to unlock.

Current percentage: (0.01%)

"Mark, why are you just standing there with a weird look on your face?"

"When I was bringing the food to the table, I guess it counted towards unlocking my ability?"

"Really?! What is the new ability?"

"Noo... not like that. It says it needs to reach 100% to unlock, and I am only at 0.01%."

"Well, that's still a big discovery. Did it give you the name of the ability, or describe it at all?"

"No, it doesn't give me any other information about it. If I had to guess, though, I would say it has to do with my cooking skills?"

"Duh, that's obvious."

"Shut it, you oaf."

Smiling, Mark walked to the table and set the food down. He then went back, grabbed the drinks, and gave one to Ryan.

"Well, thanks for the meal."

"Yep."

Eating the paella, they quickly devoured it and left squeaky clean plates. Grabbing Ryan's dishes, Mark went to the sink and quickly cleaned them all off. Turning towards Ryan, he heard him say,

"Alright, now we train! To the gym we go!"

"Sure thing."

Ryan took the lead and they both arrived at the gym soon after. Gyms have different levels of memberships, with each giving more benefits then the last. This specific gym has four memberships. From lowest to highest they are:

Bronze (15U), Silver(75U), Gold(250U), and Diamond(1000U).

Bronze gives you access to the first floor, which is a shared training area with basic stuff such as weights, treadmills, and a swimming pool. Silver gives you access to the first half of the second floor, which is another shared area but with better training gear, such as training weapons, dummies, and a room that enhances gravity. Gold lets you access the other half of the second floor, with private rooms and personal catering. Diamond lets you access the basement, which has personal gravity rooms, an archery range, and training dummies that can fight back, along with stuff the other levels have access to.

Since Mark and Ryan came to this gym often, combined with the fact that they have a Diamond membership, the staff knew them and immediately led them to a private room in the basement. Arriving in the room, the male staff said,

"Please, if you need anything from me push the red button near the door. Thanks for your patronage." The man then shut the door.

Ryan turned to Mark and told him,

"Alright, we are going to test your maximum punch strength. Go over to the punching machine and whack it."

Nodding, Mark headed to the punching machine and took a deep breath. Exerting all of the force he could, he punched the machine and sent the ball whirling back.

Force detected 165lbs

"Not bad, but not good enough. Oh, I forgot! Let's get your height and weight really quick."

Walking over to the scale, Mark hopped on it.

Weight detected 115lbs Height detected 5' 10"

"Alright, you have a decent punching force but it isn't enough. Next, let's see how much you can bench.

Heading over to the benching machine, he laid down and benched 100lbs, then 125lbs, 150lbs, and struggled with 175lbs.

"So you can bench around 175... okay, okay. Let's get you used two times gravity first, and we can work from there."

About 10 minutes later, Mark was fully used to two times gravity, running and stretching inside of the chamber. Nodding his head at Mark's adaptability, Ryan said,

"At this rate, I think we'll only need a week of training before we can do the real stuff. Later today, I'll go see if there are any good dungeons for us to go to for your first time."

Mark smiled at this, saying, "Alright, sounds great. I'm already excited to dive into one. So, what kind of training are we doing next?"

"Bench 150 for the next few sets. A set will have, hmm, let's say 15 reps. You can use your skill if it helps out."

Like this, ten days of intense training passed, and it was finally the day they were going to enter a dungeon.