Ken was laying in bed after his first week of school, staring at his new ceiling. Tomorrow he would be playing in a tournament with the Gladiators, his first official match since moving to America over a month ago.
He couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement, finally being able to play some organized baseball. From what he knew, they would be playing 3 games tomorrow and if they qualified, there would be a single elimination setting on Sunday.
While Ken was still struggling to remember the names of his teammates, he still had some faith in their abilities. Sure none of them wanted to train after practice, but most of them had sound fundamentals.
The Captain Max who played 3rd base was the clean-up hitter and was rather impressive, at least compared to others his age. Of course someone like Leo and Hiroki were a cut above him, but that wasn't a fair comparison.
Ken let out a sigh, thinking back to his first week. Apart from the boring classes, he had enjoyed hanging out with Steve both in school and outside. The two were almost inseparable, though he couldn't exactly replace his brother Daichi.
Thinking of his brother, Ken looked at his phone, not seeing any new notifications. He would often message Daichi and Ai back home, but the time difference was the most annoying.
The two were generally busy with either school or practice, and could only message at night. This conflicted with his own schedule, especially now that he'd started school and working out with the Gladiators.
'I should probably enter the Image Training tonight.' Ken thought to himself.
He had been putting it off for a while, taking advantage of Mika's sleep protocol once more. The past week's sleep had been the best he'd had ever, easily allowing his mental and physical fatigue to fade away.
'Hey Mika… I'm reluctant to take the Physical and Mental Elixirs.' Ken said in his mind, his true thoughts coming out.
[While the Elixirs may cause pain, they are completely safe.]
Hearing the monotonous response, Ken chuckled.
'I know that, but I'm just worried that I might be missing out on benefits by taking them now. I don't think that I've organically raised my physical grades more than 2 times in total.'
This was the truth. Despite having the Disciplinarian skill, he had only increased his physical grades a couple of times through his own hard work. After losing the system for 18 months, he was worried that he'd been relying on the Elixirs too much.
[…]
Mika was silent for a while, almost like she was thinking.
[Affirmative. User has been reliant on Elixirs to improve. But this is the reason why the system created the Elixirs, as a way to increase the user's bodily functions.]
Ken nodded, feeling like it made sense. However, what was the use in the Elixirs if their effects would disappear or diminish while the system was offline?
'I've been meaning to ask… Why did my fitness drop so much while the system was upgrading?'
[Please wait… Searching for analogy to ensure better comprehension…]
Ken blinked a few times, feeling as if his intelligence had just been insulted.
[If we consider the user as a game character, then the Elixirs can be considered as a buff. While the system is active, this buff will always be in effect.]
"…What?" Ken blurted out, not expecting such a response. He had agonized over this question for the better part of a year, creating theory after theory.
He even did research on muscle growth and the like, trying to get to the bottom of things from a biology standpoint. However, this response seemed far more simple, yet unbelievable at the same time.
'But that doesn't explain everything. Firstly, the Elixirs physically change my muscles, causing ridiculous amounts of pain. Secondly, how was I able to make breakthroughs when the system was offline?'
[Of course the Elixirs change your muscular structure. How else would the body be able to handle such a buff? The user would be injured almost immediately.]
"Ah…" Ken felt like he'd just been slapped in the face with this new realization. He couldn't help but inwardly chastise himself for his idiotic way of thinking in the past.
But that didn't explain the second part of the question.
[This "breakthrough" was likely a result of reaching one's limit, causing the remnant healing agent to disperse through the users body.]
A silence stretched out between the two as Ken stared at the ceiling, his face revealing just how stupid he felt.
With the missing pieces now found, Ken's mind began to extrapolate. Part of his theory about his muscle "Potential" being upgraded was backed up by Mika's words, which made him feel a little better.
But the crux of the matter was, the Elixirs were not something that he could fully rely on. He needed to attain his current level of fitness without them, if only to give him some peace of mind.
'Mika, if you were to remove the Elixir buffs on me right now, what would my physical grades be?' He asked, steeling his heart.
[Calculating…]
In the next moment a window appeared in front of him, causing a pitiful look to appear
on Ken's face.
PHYSICAL FITNESS: (Avg. S+)
Balance and Coordination: S
Agility: S
Strength: S+
Stamina: SS-
In actuality, it wasn't as bad as he had expected. His balance and Coordination was the most affected, losing 4 grades, whereas the other three were only 2 grades behind.
Ken nodded, accepting his situation. Inwardly, Ken knew that it would have likely been a lot worse if he didn't actively train his butt off in the final 6 months before the system came back.
'If I wanted to achieve these grades by myself, would it be possible? And how long would it take?' He asked.
[Affirmative. As long as the user follows a set training plan, this should be achievable in 3 months of intensive workouts.]