Training Away The Last Flicker Of Humanity

The entrance was a mess.

What was once a small rectangular stone entrance to a bunker now stood warped, on the verge of collapse.

On its side, a faded blue eagle drawing emitted a dim glow.

"What happened here? Did those old bastards not fix the paint? The entrance is about to collapse."

He frowned.

"Don't tell me they forgot?"

He pulled on the handle of the melted metal door, but it didn't budge.

Only after putting his full strength with a wrenching tug did the door finally come loose.

His jaw tensed. "...did they get trapped inside?"

Descending the bunker ladder, he arrived in the main area of the home.

"Stu. Celia. I'm home!" he called out.

His brow furrowed.

No answer.

Ged walked around the silent home, until his gaze swept over the kitchen island where a clay tablet was left with the intent of being found.

His fingers curled into a fist, nails pressing into his palm.

"Don't tell me..." His voice dropped to a growl.

He retrieved the tablet and channeled heat into it.

It alit with gold light, as in his mind the images of a sweet elderly couple appeared. As Stu and Celia's warm voices spoke to him.

"Ged… if you're hearing this, you've probably noticed we're gone," Stu's regretful tone echoed.

Celia spoke after. "We wanted to talk to you about this sooner, but these days… you're always gone before we're even awake, and by the time you get back, we're already getting ready for bed."

They hesitated.

"We got a new assignment," Stu finally said.

Ged's nails drove deeper into his palm.

"We have so many children to care for. As the world grows, so does our responsibility to ensure no child feels unloved."

"I know you wanted to have a permanent solution," Stu continued. "But it's impossible. The resources of the Parent Company are stretched too thin. We spoke with our supervisor, but we can only do so much."

Celia spoke with tears in her eyes. "Please don't hate us."

"By the time you hear this, we will have already settled in another household."

"We truly wish you the best," Stu added. "Your dreams of becoming a Celestial. I hope you achieve it."

"Hugs and kisses from both of us. Goodbye, Ged."

The vision faded.

Ged stood motionless, blood oozing from his palm.

The tablet in his hands trembled. Then it crumbled in his hands, turning to dust.

The message could be replayed. But he didn't want to hear it ever again.

Stu and Celia had been warm and kind, showering him with love and support.

But love wasn't enough.

The only thing he had ever asked of them was to stay. Every birthday, every year, it had been his one wish.

And every time, they had promised they would.

Yet now… they were telling him they were gone for good.

A burning lump formed in his throat.

He exhaled shakily. "Should've known."

"Liars."

"Every last one of them."

His breath hitched, but he forced himself to swallow the lump in his throat.

"They say over a hundred years ago, before the Blue Rain fell, families were different. They were permanent, bound by blood, born from parents who loved them unconditionally."

"But clearly, that is all fantasy."

"The Celestials lived through those days. They claim they know what real families are. And yet they don't care about preserving them at all. They spawn us children in their muscles like factories, creating children only to suffer, all under the guise of saving 'humanity' from extinction."

"To them, we're nothing more than a necessity."

His eyes burned with hatred.

"What's the point of preserving humanity if I don't even get a sliver of it for myself?"

Shaking off his frustration, he turned toward the bunker's fridge.

"Stu and Celia were just another bandage."

"I would've had to rip them off eventually. It's probably better they're gone."

A pained smile flickered across his lips as he opened the fridge door.

Inside, neatly labeled bins held an assortment of colored rocks and plants.

Pulling out the loot he'd received from Resh, he began sorting it into place.

"At least now I have the fridge to myself." He smirked.

Exhausted, he moved to his room and collapsed onto his bed.

On the wall were posters of famous cosmic bodybuilders, incredible people whose physiques dwarfed the moon.

One poster featured an image of Plunk, emblazoned with the words: "Ultimate Bodily Perfection."

They were everything he wanted to be… but wasn't.

"The Golden Era..." he stared in quiet awe.

"A time when muscles weren't built for some nebulous purpose like magic or manufacturing, but sculpted to reach the highest heights of mass and the greatest forms of definition."

"An era unrestrained by limitations."

"If only I was born earlier." His blood began to boil.

Gritting his teeth, he examined his biceps, unimpressed by their size and shape.

Disgust twisted in his gut.

"Small. I am much too small!"

With a roar, he leaped out of bed.

"I still have a long way to go!"

In the main area of the bunker, a set of stairs descended further underground.

With rekindled determination, Ged walked down the steps.

Today, he needed an extra-hard workout, one able to quell the burning desires and lingering pain of abandonment that festered in his heart.

Reaching the final step, the room opened up before him. In the center stood a pod-like container, waiting for him.

On the wall, a meticulously organized schedule outlined his weekly regimen. It detailed which muscles to train, rep counts, and the weight for each set.

"It looks like chest and legs today..."

Reaching into his abs, Ged withdrew one hundred vials of Blue Water. One by one, he injected them into his arms, his veins flaring with an eerie blue glow.

The world around him began to warp, as a drug induced hallucination took hold.

Purple clouds loomed as a hundred raindrops plummeted toward the ground.

These drops carried madness itself. If even one touched the ground, a horrifying vision would overtake him, unraveling his mind.

As the raindrops got closer to the floor, a shadow raced out from his mind, consuming each droplet in its darkness, ensuring he suffered none of their negative effects.

Ged pulled ten stones from his abs, each weighing a kilogram, and placed one in his mouth.

The crunch of rock against teeth echoed through the bunker.

With deliberate effort, he chewed and swallowed each stone.

His body operated like a furnace, each stone burning like coal as it entered him. Faint white smoke rose from his pores, signaling a successful metabolic reaction.

The sight of the smoke pushed him to move faster. It signified wasted gains, every second it lingered meant a loss of potential muscle growth.

With quicker bites, he devoured the remaining stones. Then, hopping into the pod, he began his workout.

Inside, the pod's coffin-like interior housed an interface panel.

He interacted with the panel, customizing his workout. Pouring heat into the mechanism, he activated it, and the pod descended underground.

Carving light displaced the surrounding earth, hollowing out the ground beside him. Only the ceiling remained, suspended above, held in place only by the pod's sturdy frame.

With a hiss, the pod opened, releasing 500 kilograms of solid stone ceiling that plummeted toward him, threatening to crush him.

Bracing himself, he pressed against the stone with both hands, powering through each rep.

"One… two… three…" His voice rasped between labored breaths as he completed each repetition.

After twelve reps, the pod intercepted the falling stone, halting its descent once more.

Exhaling sharply, he tried to rest now that the weight was no longer pressing down on him.

But the upcoming gang war, Resh's instability, and his own uncertainty churned in his mind, making stillness unbearable.

"More!"

He cut his rest short.

With renewed determination, he reopened the pod, letting the stone weights crash down on him once more.

Each rep tore through his chest, molten flesh rising to the surface, expanding his frame.

His chest burned crimson as new veins surfaced, snaking across his body like rivulets of blood.

He closed the pod again.

Deep, labored breaths escaped his lips, but he forced his respite brief.

"Again!"

Once more, he let the stone crash down, but this time, his strength was fading. After just four repetitions, his chest gave out, forcing him to stop.

Panting, his limbs trembled from the relentless effort.

Ged offered a dissatisfied smile as he closed the pod for the final time, ending his chest workout.

The pod ascended, emerging back into the workout room.

Stepping out, he scribbled his reps and weight totals on the wall.

Then, returning to the pod, he began his underground squat routine to train his legs.

After another grueling session, he emerged back onto the workout floor.

Panting heavily, his legs trembled with each step.

"My growth is still not fast enough," he shook his head.

Ged's current workout was of the lowest tier. It was only optimized for muscle definition and had a pitiful ten kilograms of potential muscle growth.

The body contained fourteen primary muscle groups, each capable of being trained for strength, magical abilities, or artifact manufacturing.

However, every inscription placed on a muscle group weakened its training efficiency, reducing muscle definition and limiting growth. A body with fourteen inscriptions would be incapable of growing in size at all. Worse, lacking muscle definition would create an imbalanced physique, limiting progression to higher mass realms and weakening defensive ability.

Because of this flaw, Ged had only inscribed three of his fourteen muscle groups, determined to keep his total inscriptions to a minimum.

"It's too hard to find high-quality workout routines that both train size and definition." His head hung low. "Only those working at prestigious companies and elite institutions have access to the best workouts and facilities. Without a better routine and equipment, I'm stuck growing at this painfully slow rate."

A long-standing mirror stretched across the wall of the workout room.

He stepped in front of it, flexing as he studied his form.

"I've barely crossed the Meteorite Mass Realm. I still have a long way to go before I reach Asteroid."

His gaze sharpened.

"I've only just started, yet I've already surpassed the physique limits set by the Elpida."

His expression darkened.

"It'll soon be difficult to move around without being arrested by the Equalizers. Not that it would matter…"

His fists tightened.

Then, they loosened.

"What is this? Why am I hesitating?"

"This is what I wanted… isn't it?"

He shook his head, exhaling sharply as clarity settled in.

"It's too late. There's no going back now. I can only move forward."

He steeled himself.

Next to his workout chamber stood a wooden door leading to a small sauna.

With nothing holding him back, Ged stepped inside, allowing the heat to envelop him.

The room was sparse. A lone meditation mat lay at its center, surrounded by shimmering waves of heat. In the far corner, a tiny pool of magma bubbled softly, casting a faint orange glow over the walls.

Reaching into his abs, Ged withdrew a bucket of water. As he poured it into the magma, thick steam billowed through the room, the heat intensifying as smoke curled upward. Lowering himself onto the mat, he crossed his legs in the lotus position.

Deep within him, a searing white core of heat pulsed. Drawing in the scalding steam, Ged circulated it through his body, guiding the energy into his core to replenish the heat he had expended throughout the day.

His veins gleamed with an eerie silver-blue glow as he worked.

Once his core was fully restored, he began his maintenance workouts, redrawing inscriptions for one of the muscle abilities he was currently using.

Light blue heat flowed from his lower abdomen into his calves, etching intricate pathways through his muscle fibers. Manipulating the energy into swirling pools, he carved magical patterns onto the muscles, forging a fresh inscription for the ability "Goat Walk."

After thirty minutes of precise carving, he opened his eyes, emerging from his meditative state.

He pulled out the three tablets Resh had given him, each containing inscriptions for offensive muscle abilities.

As he read over the first two, he frowned. "These two need to be worked out in pairs." He let out a sigh, "I can't put my growth behind too much." He set the two workouts aside and focused on the last one.

A wry expression crossed his face.

"This one... I can manage. I at least need something in case things go awry."

The tablet described the ability workout "Stalactite Sword", which utilized waste expelled from the forearms to form durable, icicle-like rock structures. Up to five stalactites could be stored in each forearm, ready to be wielded as short swords or snapped in half to serve as throwing knives.

"The only issue is how long they take to form. But once I've stored a few, even if I stop training them, they'll stay inside my muscles." A small smile crept across his face.

Channeling the heat swirling through his body, he directed energy to his forearms, stimulating the muscle tissue in irregular patterns. As his body expelled tiny bits of mass, he carefully shaped the stalactites.

Faint dripping sounds echoed as two small rock knives began to solidify within his forearms.

Satisfied, he exited the steam room.

"I should message Trevor, see if he can come in," Ged muttered. "He's supposed to be off work, but I feel like I could use extra hands at the drug den tomorrow."

A stone transmitter hung on the wall. Ged picked it up and checked for incoming messages. Finding none, he gripped the device firmly, channeling heat into it with precise, Morse-code-like patterns.

Pressing the transmitter against the wall, he sent the encoded message through the earth, carrying his words to Trevor.

After returning the transmitter to its slot, he ascended the steps back to his room. Collapsing onto his bed, Ged let out a contented sigh.

After a day of activity, he was ready for a long, well-deserved sleep.

Ged's Current Workout

 ** Pectorals (chest) -

 ** Latissimus Dorsi (mid back) -

 ** Rhomboid (back) -

 ** Trapezius (traps) - "Digging Hands": Allows the user to burrow into the ground and create tunnels for easy traversal.

 ** Spinal Erector (lower back) -

 ** Biceps -Triceps (under arm) -

 ** Forearms - "Stalactite Sword": Allows the user to create stone like swords in their forearms storing up to five in each.

 ** Deltoids (shoulders) -

 ** Abs - "Storage": Storage space for items, total can't exceed the total kilograms of the physique.

 ** Hamstrings -

 ** Glutes -

 ** Quads -

 ** Calves - "Goat Walk": Allows one to traverse difficult terrain as if it were flat land.