A life cut short.
Or so he thought.
Rian jolted upward, clutching his neck, sweat beading down his forehead, as well as forming a ring of sweat around his collar. He looks around, down, up, utterly perplexed.
"Where..."
He paused, mumbling, musing, trying to come to terms with things.
"How am I... here?"
He looked around the room. Old, cramped, and humid. Nothing comfortable.
He pinched himself once. Then twice.
He even slapped himself.
"Nope... it's... real."
Even if he accepted this sudden awakening, he was confused. Was it all a dream? It was far too real and too vivid to be just a dream. And even if it was a dream, why was he here in this room? The singular dorms of trainees?
Stepping out of bed, his foot touched the cool wood. Nearby on the floor was a piece of cracked mirror. He picked it up, nearly dropping it after he jumped.
"My face!"
He looked again, confirming what he saw.
"My face... It's different. My scar that ran down my cheek is gone. And those circles under my eyes. All gone."
He dropped the glass piece now, just sitting back down, trying to rethink the situation.
Minutes passed, then an entire hour of thinking, of planning, did too.
'So... I regressed in time? If I look like this... more gaunt than chiseled, and more soft in the face, and if I'm here in this trainee room. Then I'm sure... this must be 10 years ago. I'm 16 again.'
He chuckled under his breath. The idea of it is baffling.
Why? How? He didn't know. He for sure didn't expect the universe to sing in hymn's and give him a reason as to why.
So he stood up, assessed himself, his body, his current capabilities, and threw a punch.
It had power, of course, but lacked a lot of it.
He also found it incredibly weird to be moving and breathing with the physique of his younger years. He was less flexible, thinner than muscular, and his senses were a bit off. But Rian looked on the bright side of things.
"Even if I'm changed, I'm better in another way. I have 10 years of knowledge, experience, and ambition in me. I can't let myself be controlled. Or become a slave. I need to get stronger. Even stronger than I was before my regression."
***
"You're telling me this is all we have? These rats under the rug?"
A grizzled man walked back and forth in front of a line of young men and women. Rian is a part of that line.
Their backs are straight, chins are up high, and mouths are sealed tight.
"Welcome to the Talon Clan. Or, the Bladed Division. Known as the Assassin Order. You will follow orders. Train hard. And if you do well enough, you'll earn your keep. Understood?"
"Yes, sir!" The trainees said in unison.
Just then, a young woman with a paper came over. She assessed the group, eyeing bodies, checking eyes, height, and mass.
"Keyce, Lauren, Pherro, Buffy, and Maxwell come forth!" She said.
The line was cut in sections now, as those 5 stepped forward toward the woman.
"Drill Master Nero, these are the best candidates this year," She said.
Drill Master Nero chuckled, "Is that so? Well, they look good. Let's hope they stay up to par."
"Step back in line." He said.
***
After the first day of training, Rian found himself heading back to his dorm. Nobody seemed to follow or try to talk to him, so he was free for the day after a quick meal.
It wasn't an impressive meal. It was a protein bar made with magic that gave anybody a recharge and a slight healing effect for 10 minutes.
Now back in his room, Rian sat down on his bed.
He relaxed his body, feeling the mana around him.
"I need to get ahead of the curve. My first goal... is to catch up to those 5 trainees earlier, in the shortest amount of time I can."
[Your regressed soul has reacted to Mana.]
"What the-"
Rian froze, his eyes locked on the floating interface before him. It shone a faint hue of blue and was semi-translucent in opacity. The lettering was retro-ish and bold.
"What am I even looking at?"
[Soul remembers Mana.]
[System has been downloaded completely.]
[
"Y-Yes...?"
[Quest: "Reclaiming My Strength" has been created!]
____________________________________________
[
<0/100%>
[Train Your body.]
[Reward: ???]
____________________________________________
Thus began Rian's crazed regime.
***
"What is that guy's problem?"
"Don't know. But every day he comes out here to the yard after training, swings his sword like a madman, and pushes his body to the extreme with crazy exercises."
"Damn, he's making me feel like I'm lacking. Let's train some extra hours too!"
"What? No way, man. I'm tired. But you can die from a heart attack with that lunatic if you want."
Meanwhile, Rian ignored the conversations around him; he just pushed himself, pushed his body.
He ran around the training yard like his body wasn't burning, like his thighs didn't feel like they were ripping, like the bones of his toes and heel weren't rattling. He kept going, kept pushing. Sweat was cascading down his body like it was raining, his lungs felt like they were on fire from the constant, strong breathing, and his heart was thumping so hard it felt like it was ready to beat out of his chest.
[<45/100%>]
..
[<49/100%>]
..
[<52/100%>]
..
[<58/100%>]
..
Slowly, but painstakingly sure, he was pacing through it.
He flexed the muscles of his arms, his back, and his abdomen via pushups, crunches, and pull-ups. He realized that adding weights to himself increased the percentage gain hourly.
It's been roughly about 2 days and 10 hours since Rian began his workouts every day.
***
[<89/100%>]
With his hands on his knees, back bent over slightly, with sweat forming like tears along his body, Rian didn't know if he could hold up much longer. To the old him before the regression, he could have done this in a heartbeat and hardly broke a sweat.
But he was changed. And for the better. Because soon enough, he would grow stronger, reclaim his former strength, and rise beyond that.
He trained more.
More pushups.
More running.
More crunches.
More swinging the training swords and daggers.
...
[<99/100%>]
..
[<100/100%>]
[You have completed the given quest: "Reclaiming My Strength"!]
[Reward has been granted!]
[Trait unlocked: Supreme Body]
[Desc: Grants the wielder a unique body exclusive to him alone, capable of explosive stat growth, extraordinary talent, and limitless potential.]
Rian fell from exhaustion.
Now on his back, his chest rose up and down as he looked up toward the sky from the training yard.
He smirked.
"Finally."