Intense Training Regimen?! That isn't even intense!

The sun was shining and the birds were singing. Set woke up from his slumber with a smile on his face. More accurately, he had a smile and a layer of sand on his face. Luckily, he didn't take the Crimson Curse off, so no sand was inhaled.

After a while of thoroughly waking himself up, he got up and stretched. But his somewhat peaceful morning was cut short when he saw a massive Evil crow heading straight to him. Set was shocked. If he had the slightest bit of a heart condition, Set would have died on the spot.

Set immediately summoned his Titan Blade and his newly-fixed destroyed armor and stood on the defensive, for he knew he would be killed in an instant if he were to attack. It's not that Set was afraid of death, it was just a pain to go through. Literally!

Set was even more surprised as it came closer. The giant Evil Crow Set had seen was not the Evil Crow, it was King Raven. And the second thing that surprised Set was that King Raven had the same sun mark that the metal crane had. Thinking about the metal crane, Set looked around trying to discern its location.

Even though the King Raven had the same mark as the metal crane, it was no indication whether he was a friend or a foe. As Set looked around, he was given another shock. Since he had been preoccupied with the King Raven, he had not seen his surroundings.

Right next to him, a skeleton surrounded by a mound of bones partly coated with sand. If Set had seen any other bones, he would have been concerned about his well-being. Yet there were three holes in the head in front of him. Two in place of the eyes and one right in the middle of the forehead. The skull in front of him was that of the King Raven, whom he had killed with much difficulty.

The King Raven landed in front of Set, kicking up sand and crushing the remains of King Raven. Set slowly stepped back, but after a while of observing the King Raven, it didn't look like he wanted to attack. Set looked at it, and an insane, yet barely realistic idea popped into his mind.

"Is that metal crane you?" Set asked in confusion and a slim but present optimism. The King Raven heard this and slowly nodded his head. Set was flabbergasted. The metal crane was gone, the King Raven had the same sun mark as the metal crane. The King Raven he was killed last night and reduced to the bones.

Piecing all this together, Set started to believe the King Raven was actually the metal crane, but to make sure he asked the system. He asked the system to show him the events of the night before. Set fast-forwarded the first few hours of the video, as it was just the metal crane eating King Raven.

After the metal crane had finished devouring the King Raven, Set looked carefully at the screen. A third eye appeared on the metal crane's forehead. It glowed with red light and covered the body of the metal crane, forming a cocoon of red light. After a couple of hours, the metal crane came out looking like the King Raven.

Even though Set had just seen the metal crane turn into the King Raven, he was still skeptical and couldn't help but question the system.

"Is this King Raven the Metal Crane?"

[Yes! IF you had taken a moment to calm yourself and sense for the metal crane, you would have noticed the connection between you and the King Raven...]

Set was very pleased. His metal crane had miraculously turned into the King Raven. He had a few hypotheses, but the most likely one was that the metal crane had the ability to turn into anything it consumes. There's been something different about the metal crane ever since the Evil Crows were eaten, so this may have been it. As Set thought about it, he was even more sure of his theory.

He jumped onto the King Raven and told it to go back to the shelter. As he was soring through the sky, he thought about his problems, more like the biggest pain in the ass. He still didn't know whether he had to maximize his fitness for all his innate abilities, but even the prospect of it was worrisome. Having a lack of answers, he asked the system if his hypothesis was right, but because of a lack of knowledge, the system could not answer with 100 % certainty. After a while of thinking, Set asked,

"System, is there any way I can improve my fitness level?"

[You can buy body-tempering techniques from the system shop.]

Set was wide-eyed, he had forgotten such a crucial function of the system. Wondering what treasures he might find, he immediately went to the store and checked for body-tempering skills.

. . .

[Shop]

[Specified: Body tempering techniques]

. . .

[Demonic body tempering technique: by soaking in the blood of your enemies for one hour, you can increase all your stats by five. It also raises the aura of death around you.]

[Cost: 1000 blood points]

[Heaven's Tribulation Body Tempering technique: By absorbing the power of Heaven's Tribulation, the host can increase his fitness. The amount of fitness increased is directly proportional to the amount of power that the host can absorb.]

[Cost: 2000 blood point]

[Intense daily training regimen: intense daily training regimen that can temper the body to increase all its stats by one point each day.]

[Cost: 500 blood points]

.

.

.

. . .

The list went on, but those were the cheapest that Set could find. Even those cheap ones would have made Set weep for a week. For the first technique, he wasn't even interested. Bathing in the blood of your enemies to increase your fitness? That was just straight-up disgusting. And thinking about how after each blood-soaking session he had to take a shower, he felt tired just thinking about it. Of course, Set never intended to temper his body himself, he had his clones to do it for him. Either way, he'd benefit from it.

The second one was really interesting. He passes through Heaven's tribulation, and the amount of power absorbed is directly proportional to the increase in fitness. If he manages to absorb all the power, it was frightening to think how much his fitness would improve.

The third was the most promising. First of all, it was the cheapest. That was enough to make a decision on its own. And the best part was, it was just a workout regimen, how hard could it be? Set held back his tears and bought the Intense Training Regimen. His blood point count went down to 269. At that moment, his brain was flooded with information. He slowly absorbed the knowledge. But after half a minute, he was shocked!

"Is this the intense training regimen? Or are you scamming me?!"

[The technique you've learnt is real, execute it daily, and all your stats will be improved by one each day!]

Set couldn't believe it. The so-called intense training regimen was a daily exercise of One hundred push-ups, One hundred sit-ups, One hundred squats, and a Ten kilometer run EVERY!SINGLE!DAY! He was over the moon happy. It wasn't even intense, it was just a moderate overall body training, and he didn't even have to do a single thing, he had his clones to take care of that! Thinking of his future rise in fitness, a smug smile appeared on his face.

As Set was thinking about how wonderful things were, he suddenly heard sounds of clashing. As he was planning to ignore the fighters, he heard a loud, high-pitched scream. He wanted to take a look, but because Set was still in the desert area, he couldn't see through all the dunes. After flying higher into the sky and closer to the scream, he saw four people standing over a body.

"Baby, don't scream. We don't want intruders, do we?" said a man with eyes full of lust and greed as he saw the girl on the ground. The girl was about eighteen years old, with long black hair and dark dreamy eyes. Her skin, like white jade, was smooth and elegant. Her face was delicate and sharp-featured. Her figure, alluring and her temperament, soft. But currently, her angelic image was distorted! Her expression was one of dismay, as tears fell from the corner of her eyes. Her skin was tainted with a layer of sand. Her clothes were torn all over, revealing her smooth long legs and her slender body.

"Hey boss, are you sure we're not going to get in trouble for this?" asked a man standing beside the so-called boss.

"She went out hunting alone. It's normal for hunters to die while hunting... isn't it?"

The four standing over her laughed and with lust-filled eyes, moved closer to the defenseless girl.

Mio observing the four men was scared and furious. She had gone hunting, but the four of them ambushed her. She had fought with all her strength, but could not run. As she was already far from the shelter, but the battle had pushed her further and further away from it. Seeing the four getting closer she lost all hope, she was going to be used then kill. But her will was strong, and she decided that if she was going to die, either way, it would be better if she was the one who did it. She summoned a broken celestial sword. The four seeing her were even more riled up as they laughed at her attempt to fight. Seeing the four laughing, Mio quickly steeled her will as she spun the sword into a reverse grip, ready to end her life. But before she could, she heard an unfamiliar voice.

"Bullying girls, didn't your mother teach you any manners?"