The blue interface hovered quietly in front of Noah.
Name: Noah ValeAge: 18Estimated Lifespan: 76
Strength: 1.2Endurance: 1.1Mind: 1.2Charisma: 1.3
Unassigned Attribute Points: 0.4
Talent — Limitless PotentialNo ceilings. No bottlenecks. No hidden weaknesses. If he trained, he improved.
Talent — Margin of the StrongEvery increase to an attribute generated a small amount of extra points that could be invested elsewhere.
The interface was simple and clean. No tutorials. No explanations.
Just numbers.
Noah stared at the 0.4 unassigned points for a moment, then chose not to spend them yet.
Improvement always slowed down later. It made more sense to save those points for when progress became harder.
Right now, what he really wanted to understand was his first ability.
Limitless Potential.
According to the poll he'd seen before his reincarnation, it meant one thing:
Training would always make him stronger.
No limits.
No plateau.
No diminishing returns.
Noah glanced at the clock on the wall.
8:19 a.m.
Classes started in half an hour.
His school—Midtown High School—was about two kilometers away.
If he walked like usual, he'd definitely be late.
Noah grabbed his backpack.
"…Guess today's a test run."
If getting stronger meant training, then running counted.
He stepped outside and started jogging toward school.
The cool morning air brushed across his face as he moved through the streets of New York City.
Pedestrians hurried along sidewalks, commuters grabbed coffee, taxis crawled through traffic.
Noah kept jogging.
Then a thought crossed his mind.
If I'm going to train… I might as well push it.
His pace suddenly changed.
The relaxed jog turned into a full sprint.
People on the sidewalk stared as the teenager suddenly tore down the street like a gust of wind.
Two kilometers wasn't far. Normally Noah could jog that distance in about fifteen minutes without breaking a sweat.
But running at full speed was a completely different story.
At first, the burst of speed felt amazing.
The first four hundred meters flew by.
Energy surged through his body. His breathing was steady, his legs light. For a moment, it felt like he could keep this pace forever.
Noah knew better.
That feeling was a lie.
It was the brain enjoying the first rush of exertion.
The real test came later.
Three hundred meters later, his breathing started to slip.
The early surge of energy faded.
His legs grew heavier. Sweat began forming across his skin as his body fought to cool itself.
By eight hundred meters, the sprint became a struggle.
Each step felt like wading through thick mud.
Fatigue spread through his muscles. His pace slowed despite his efforts.
By fifteen hundred meters, his heart pounded violently against his ribs.
His lungs burned.
Every breath scraped through his chest like sandpaper.
Muscles screamed with exhaustion, and sweat poured down his face.
A quiet voice in the back of his mind suggested stopping.
But Noah's eyes remained calm.
He kept running.
Nine minutes later, Noah stumbled into the doorway of Midtown High.
He crossed the threshold of Classroom 2-A just as the bell rang.
Technically—
He wasn't late.
Standing at the door, Noah struggled to breathe.
"Morning… teacher."
Each breath sent sharp pain through his lungs.
The teacher blinked in surprise.
"…Did you run here?"
Noah was drenched in sweat.
"Go sit down before you collapse."
Noah nodded and slowly made his way to his seat.
Every step felt like his legs were made of rubber.
Once he finally sat down, the teacher resumed the lesson.
The skinny blond boy next to him leaned over curiously.
"Dude, what happened to you?"
He spoke in a whisper.
"You actually ran to school, didn't you?"
"Yeah," Noah muttered.
He glanced sideways.
Peter Parker sat beside him.
It had taken Noah a moment to realize the truth earlier.
His chatty classmate was the same Peter Parker who would one day become Spider-Man.
Right now, though, Peter was still just a skinny high school kid.
No radioactive spider bite yet.
As Peter continued whispering questions, Noah quietly opened his status panel.
He wasn't worried about anyone seeing it.
Earlier that morning, he had checked in the mirror.
The interface didn't appear in reflections.
Which meant only he could see it.
But when the panel opened—
Noah froze.
The previously empty description field now contained new information.
Training Analysis
You completed a 2.02 km run at an average pace of 4:42 per kilometer.
The run placed moderate strain on your body, creating minor fatigue and micro-damage that will recover naturally as your endurance improves.
The system estimates that repeating similar high-intensity runs consistently will gradually increase your physical limits.
Strength, endurance, and mental resilience all improved slightly through the effort.
Continued training under similar conditions will steadily raise your overall capability.
Noah stared at the text.
His eyes lit up.
So the system didn't just track his stats.
It analyzed his training.
More importantly—
It showed him exactly what kind of effort produced growth.
And that was just running.
What about other exercises?
Push-ups.
Sit-ups.
Squats.
Weight training.
Would those produce better results?
Probably.
But then another thought crossed Noah's mind.
This is going to take time.
Even with perfect training efficiency, building power on the level of someone like Hulk would require ridiculous effort.
Years.
Maybe decades.
Which meant one thing.
He couldn't afford to waste time.
By now, Noah's breathing had mostly recovered.
He raised his hand.
"Teacher, I'm feeling a little dizzy. Can I go to the nurse's office?"
The teacher studied him for a moment.
Then she nodded.
"Peter, walk him there."
Peter immediately stood.
But Noah shook his head.
"No need. I'm good."
Before the teacher could respond, Noah grabbed his bag and rushed out of the classroom.
The door slammed shut behind him.
Inside the room, the class stared in stunned silence.
They had just watched a guy who claimed to be dizzy sprint down the hallway at full speed.
One student finally muttered under his breath:
"…Did he just skip class without even trying to hide it?"