Grind 2.4

"...have higher numbers of bones because some bones fuse together during childhood and adolescence to form..."

His legs pumped relentlessly, each step slapping hard against the black tread as he continued running his fastest. His arms strained to stay up somewhat but Greg forced them to stay at his chest-level, refusing to slack off.

"...to provide a rigid, internal structure that can support the weight of the body against the force of gravity, and to provide a structure upon which muscles can act to produce movements…"

In the background, a weak speaker system blared out, repeatedly cycling through a playlist from some of Greg's favorite game soundtracks. The speaker had been a gift from his friend Sparky for Christmas… a super cheap gift, but then again, it was Sparky.

Greg continued moving even as his head bobbed slightly to the music. Even then, his eyes remained firmly locked on the textbook in front of him, secured to the handles of the treadmill with a mix of duct-tape and hope. "The lower portion of the skeleton is specialized for stability during walking or running. In contrast, the upper skeleton has greater mobility and ranges of motion…"

Abilities Level Up!

Basic Anatomy Lvl 5

Anatomy is to physiology as geography is to history.

Gain a basic understanding of the human body.

Increases [Critical Hit] damage by 2% per level.

Stamina Lvl 5

Whatever I lack in talent I have in stamina.

Increase Will by 5 points per level.

Greg didn't even raise his gaze as the single 'ping!' sound rang out again, keeping his head focused on the book in front of him even as his muscles began to protest again. 1 more minute. I can do this.

"The vertebral column consists of 24 bones, each called a vertebra, plus the sacrum and coccyx. The thoracic cage includes the 12 pairs of ribs…" Three 'pings!' rang out in quick succession and Greg glanced up.

Through intense physical training, your STR has increased by 1.

Through intense physical training, your SPD has increased by 1.

Through intense study, your INT has increased by 1.

Greg smiled tiredly at the three pop-ups, the seventh time he had them all in a row since he had started training today at around 7 AM, an hour after he woke up. Eight hours of nonstop running on a treadmill for a twenty-one point overall stat increase and two new abilities.

He smirked as he continued running. Worth it.

His mother had left around 8, after glancing to see what he was doing down in the basement. The look on her face had been curious and more than a tad bit suspicious but thankfully, she didn't ask any questions. A courtesy which Greg was nothing but thankful for. If she had even been the slightest bit curious, he would have found himself in a very complicated situation as Greg really wasn't sure how he could explain this.

In his search of the garage, Greg had found a selection of wrist and ankle weights that were able to help him increase his rate of stat improvement and basically make his entire workout more worth the time.

Limb Weights [100 lbs]

Wearing weights to train, huh? What's next, green spandex?

+ 50% to [STR] gain

+ 50% to [SPD] gain

+ 50% XP from combat against enemies up to level 15.

- 5 [STR] when equipped

- 5 [SPD] when equipped

The only real drawback had been the flavor text that accompanied his initial use of [Observe] on the item, the description itself changing after he equipped them. Apparently, the weights he now wore were how his mother "stayed as fit and toned as a twenty-year-old well into her mid-thirties."

It was Greg's opinion that if it wasn't for Gamer's Mind, the resulting mental image would have forced him to seek therapy. Regardless of the traumatizing imagery, Greg had equipped the four weights, loading the slots with all the thick metal slabs they came with for a total of twenty -five pounds per limb.

It was hard enough walking with all the extra weight, but Greg knew he had to step it up if he wanted to get anywhere. In the basement, his mother had bought a treadmill a few years back. Greg had never touched it before, not really interested in running for the sake of it.

That changed today.

He had run harder and faster than he ever had before, putting his full attention into nothing but reading and running. In addition, he spent his time gulping down an entire bottle of Gatorade whenever his Will threatened to send him to the ground again. Of course, Greg had used up almost all the Gatorade in the house over the course of the day, but he felt it was a worthwhile investment.

At a certain point, Greg had even considered getting some of his mom's equipment and setting up an IV filled with nothing but electrolyte-replenishing sports drinks. After taking a moment to think about it, he had changed his mind, deciding to save the idea for a later time. After all, he wasn't that desperate… or was he?

Losing to Sophia had been… eye-opening, for lack of a better term. Completing the quest on Sunday had left Greg feeling like he was on top of the world. I mean, he beat up two armed criminals. Granted, he was the reason one of them was armed in the first place but…

He shook his head. Not the point. Those guys were actual criminals, but they had less HP and a lower level than a football player who was younger than them and hadn't wanted to fight anyway. Greg wasn't sure what that meant but he was pretty sure he could have beaten the football player, too. Sophia, on the other hand...

Sophia was a monster.

The girl was fast. Faster than him, without a doubt, and a lot stronger than her 5 ft 3 frame would imply.

She had kept him off balance and hit so fast he could barely keep up. Hell, she was so good she probably could have taken out those Merchant guys in a couple of seconds even without his special skills. And she was just a track star! Greg thought bitterly. What does that say about actual martial artists or boxers or… or… or actual capes?

With stats like this, he thought he could actually go out and do something.

Sophia almost killed him with her bare hands! That would be great on a tombstone.

Here lies Gregory Lucas Veder

1996 – 2011

Beaten to death by a pissed-off teenage girl

Greg's mouth turned downwards slightly.Yeah, that would be embarrassing as all heck. Too distracted to focus on his reading, Greg just let out a sigh. "[Will.]"

Willpower: 9/90

Sighing again, Greg let his arms fall, resting them on the handrails. And, I'm down to only 1 bottle of Gatorade too.

"Okay, we're done here." Greg pushed the 'Stop' button on the treadmill, allowing the machine its first bit of rest all day as the tread's motor begin to whir to a stop. His legs unmoving, the slow tread pushed him back until he fell off the treadmill.

Greg collapsed against the hardwood floor of his basement for what must have been the thirtieth time that day, beads of sweat coating his entire body. Though he could feel the exhaustion dragging him down, he couldn't deny that he felt better than he had in, like… ever. Lighter, faster, stronger...

He lay there, staring at the textured paint on the ceiling as he felt his body slowly recover, his will creeping up at a rate of about five points a minute. At this rate, it would take almost twenty minutes to get back up to full. God, my Will went up like crazy.

That would normally be a good thing in any other situation if it wasn't for the fact that the regeneration rate of his Will didn't seem to increase proportionately. What once took six minutes now took eighteen. After getting smacked around by Sophia yesterday, he had noticed the same for his HP, the original rate of one point every fifteen seconds still the status quo.

If the rate of his stat regen wasn't enough to worry about, it seemed that the rate at which he was grinding stats was slowing down too. Each new pop-up he received had taken slightly longer than the previous one and it was kinda stressing him out. All Greg could hope for was that he wouldn't start experiencing a "diminishing returns" situation anytime soon.

Blinking as he suddenly remembered something, Greg thrust a hand into the tight pockets of his shorts. He held up his phone, the silver logo clear against the candy blue paint. His fingers went over the keypad of his flip-phone, putting in a number he knew by heart.

Greg put the phone to his mouth as it rang. Once.

"Mom?"

"..."

"Hi, yeah, could you buy me a twenty-four pack of Gatorade on your way home?"

"..."

"Nothing. Just been working out all day."

"..."

Greg pulled his head away from the phone, staring at the device with a look of annoyance. Shaking his head, he put the phone back to his face. "Mom, I'm not lying."

"..."

"Thanks, Mom. Love you."

With that, Greg hung up, clutching the closed phone in his hands. A moment later, he cast a glance at the time and date on the LCD panel. 3:00 PM?

Grunting slightly, Greg himself up into a sitting position. I got time. His free hand clambered around at his side, searching for something he had dropped on his way down hear several hours ago.

With a metallic clatter, his hand brushed against something thick, long and cold to the touch. Greg brought the sixteen-inch wrench, which had to weigh at least five pounds, to his face and grinned. "No pain, no gain."

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o – – o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

Greg held the wrench under the bathroom faucet as it ran steaming water over the blood-covered implement and his stained hands.

As his hands became clean enough, Greg pulled an energy bar from his inventory and began snacking on it, the item boosting the rate of his HP regen greatly. He had already eaten eight of them, he would know.

CLIF Energy Bar – White Chocolate

+20 HP

+5 to HP every 15 seconds for 10 minutes

Almost two straight hours of striking his left arm with the wrench had sent his HP into the red several times. Not to mention, his method of training had ended up making both a bloody mess of both himself and the basement floor. But, then again, Greg couldn't say it wasn't worth it.

Four points to VIT and eight levels to [Blunt Force Resistance] was nothing to sneeze at, after all.

Lifting the jumbo-sized wrench again, Greg brandished it at the mirror in front of him and grinned. One finger went down to lightly touch his abdomen, trailing over an indentation in his stomach that hadn't been there before this morning.

He knew he looked a mess, standing there shirtless with half of his skinny torso splattered with blood and the other half covered in sweat and dirt.

Even still, he liked what he saw. "Huh, I almost have abs… Nice."

Spoiler: STATUS Greg Lucas Veder Age: 15 (and three-quarters!) Level 4 Experience 1375/1800 Health 190/190 Mana 110/110 Willpower 96/96 STR 12 SPD 10 VIT 10 INT 14 WIS 7(-80%) CHA 2(+9) (-90%) Stat Points: 7 Traits

Nerd-Geek Hybrid: Your obsession with video gaming, computers, fantasy/sci-fi literature and 80’s/90’s pop culture has left you in the rare middle of two circles; the obsessive fandom-loving geek and the intelligent, knowledge seeking nerd. Sadly, your hobbies have left you with an aversion to physical exertion. (50% bonus to INT gains, -50% penalty to STR, SPD & VIT gains.)

Ambiguous Disorder: Ever since you were a little kid, you’ve always been a little bit off. Impulsive, obsessive, socially obtuse and emotionally needy, you’re a bit of a weirdo. It was easily written off as normal behavior when you were younger but now you’re fifteen. Yet, you still come off as someone over five years younger. Maybe Mom should have had you tested like Dad said? (-80% reduction to overall WIS, 90% reduction to overall CHA.)

Casanova Bloodline: As a Veder man, you have a great smile, natural charm and a confident approach to life that draws the ladies in like a moth to a flame. Your great cheekbones don’t hurt either. It’s how your dad got your mom to go out with him while dating at least three other girls and sleeping with two others, at least that’s what he always told you - even when you didn’t ask - all the time. (+9 CHA)