Chapter 15: Cultivation? Nah, Push-Ups
Garion led Dahlia out into the courtyard. He stopped in the center, stretching his shoulders and cracking his neck.
"Dahlia, the real training will begin now, and it is body training."
Dahlia tilted her head in confusion.
"Body Training? Isn’t cultivation already training that can also strengthen the body?"
Garion sneered, hearing that.
"The one you said just tempered the body basic enough to handle mana. But the one I do is different. This will build our body stronger than others."
He dropped to the ground, palms flat, shoulders wide. Dahlia blinked as Garion straightened his back and lowered himself.
"I’ll show you first how to do a simple workout. Watch carefully."
Garion sank his chest slowly and tucked in his elbows. He inhaled as he went down and exhaled when he pushed himself up.
"Breathe with the movement. When going down, breathe in, and when going up, breathe out. Simple enough."
He did it a few more times before standing up like nothing happened.
He then pointed at the ground.
"That’s the first exercise. Your turn."
Dahlia crouched down and copied his stance. She lowered herself... or tried to.
Her arms shook briefly before her back dipped down like a hammock.
Garion crouched beside her, frowning.
"Keep your back straight. Don’t sag it. Keep your elbows tight, not flapping like chicken wings."
Dahlia tried again, and sweat began forming on her body just after one attempt, but her form was still bad.
"Don’t bend your neck like that. Keep your eyes forward. Tighten your core and remember to control your breathing."
Dahlia gritted her teeth, complaining.
"You make this sound so easy."
Garion laughed hard, hearing her.
"That’s because it is easy. You’re just doing it wrong."
She shot him a glare but focused again.
Slowly, she lowered herself again, fixed her back and elbows, and finally pushed herself up with shaky arms.
Garion’s smile widened.
"Perfect. That’s one perfect rep. And also, twelve reps is usually one set. So... give me three sets."
Dahlia blinked in surprise, counting in her head.
"Three sets of twelve... that’s fucking thirty-six reps!"
Garion crossed hear arms, smiling.
"Look at you, already good at counting. Now stop it and start pushing."
She grumbled under her breath but obeyed.
The first few reps looked manageable, but by the eighth rep, her arms began to tremble again.
By the twelfth, she collapsed flat on the ground like a pancake.
Garion crouched beside her, clapping his hands.
"Good. That’s one set. Two more to go."
Dahlia groaned into the floor.
"Two... more...?"
Garion waved her off.
"Don’t be too dramatic. It’s only three sets, not a lot. Now, do it."
Dahlia groaned and forced herself up again, arms shaking like twigs.
Garion also corrected her form and breathing every time she did it.
"Straighten your back. Lower your body more, don’t cheat. Tighten your core. Don’t hold your breath, unless you want to faint."
By the time she finished her second set, her face was red, her hair plastered to her forehead.
She dropped to the ground, panting.
"Master, I think my arms are dead."
Garion waved her off.
"Nonsense. If they were dead, you wouldn’t feel any pain at all."
Dahlia tilted her head, thinking.
"That quite makes sense."
Garion nodded.
"It makes perfect sense, and now do it again. There was only one set left."
Dahlia cried halfway between frustration and pain, but she did it anyway.
In the last set, her arms shook like crazy, but she pushed through.
On the twelfth rep, she collapsed again, breathing like she’d done something outrageous.
Garion crouched down, smiling and tapping her shoulder.
"See? Not so bad, right?"
She rolled onto her back.
"Not so bad? I can’t move my arms. What if I get attacked right now? I’ll die lying here like a turtle."
Garion chuckled.
"Don’t worry about that. I’m here. I’ll protect you as you’re my disciple."
Dahlia only smiled a bit before passing out. Garion only smiled seeing her.
After that, Garion turned back at the glowing notification floating beside him.
[Disciple Dahlia completed three sets of perfect push-ups. Owner gains 10x the results]
His smile stretched ear to ear.
Every time Dahlia did a perfect push-up, his own body surged with her result times ten.
His chest felt tighter, his arms felt stronger, and his core grew more solid.
The best part? He didn’t even have to sweat for it. Hell, there were only the positive gains, not the negative ones.
"So this is the effect of the first function. Every workout done by others in God Gym strengthens me."
He looked back at Dahlia, who was still sprawled out like a corpse on the ground.
"What a good disciple."
---
The group of shady bandits grouped up again after a few days of searching.
The leader, the one with a scar down his cheek, looked at the others.
"Did you guys find anything good?"
The youngest one shook his head, rubbing his jaw.
"Nothing. We searched everywhere. We found nothing but rats and broken carts."
The leader frowned.
"So they ran off? Split the loot and ran?"
Another one quickly gave another possible reason.
"Either that, or someone got them first."
Another one, bigger and slower, pushed his hand across the table.
"There’s a building by the mountain road. From what I heard from the city, it should be a recent-form sect."
The scarred leader smiled, grinning.
"New sect? Maybe they are the ones who killed them and took their stuff."
The second one, with a cigarette, smirked.
"You know that crew isn’t strong at all. Whoever got them shouldn’t be any stronger."
The scarred leader then said.
"Still, making a new sect means they got money and power, but still..."
He tapped the map with his knuckle.
"It’s a new sect, so it probably still has a few people in it."
He looked at the youngest and asked.
"How many people did the townsfolk say live there?"
The youngest quickly answered.
"Two, a man and a girl."
The leader was surprised.
"Two? So few."
The big man quickly smirked.
"If only two, then it will be easy. When do we go?"
The leader smirked.
"Two or three days. Let’s just see their strength first."
The other nodded as they began to check around the God Gym.