Chapter 6 - The Cheat Code Is Just Suffering More

I have four days until the fight. Four days to improve myself as much as possible.

I spent most of my time in the Mind Paths class thinking about how the hell would I beat a guy like Matias, as the way the professor taught her class allowed me to think freely.

The premise of the class was simple: learn the basic Mental Paths every FoM student should have and the most basic one of them was the Path of Telekinesis.

The way to awaken your Telekinesis, on the other hand, was not a simple one. The teacher explained that taking leaves from the trees around the park and trying to move them with our minds would eventually cause us to awaken the path, which explained absolutely nothing.

Just like every single child, I had also tried to move things with my mind when I was younger, and just like every child, I had failed. You'd think that in a world like this where magic exists, this exercise would give you a different experience than those moments, but it wasn't. The leaf showed no sign of being moved, and I had no idea if I even used my mind correctly or not.

The professor had told us to imagine an invisible hand grasping the leaf, imagine what would a leaf's texture feel like to your fingers, joints, and knuckles. "With enough imagination," she had said "and with all your high intelligence, you should be able to awaken the Path of Telekinesis in about two hours, in its most basic form."

And there was the problem. I had already concluded that most of the students in the Faculty of Mind had high intelligence instead of willpower, and my fears about professors assuming people who take the mandatory FoM courses would have high intelligence had come true. Combining my average intelligence with my migraine and my mind wandering to the upcoming fight with Matias, I couldn't make any progress.

I could see some others having breakthroughs in about an hour, their leaf gently floating on their palm. Daisy, however, seemed like she was either a genius or she knew this path before, most likely both, as she could spin three rocks in the air with ease, impressing not only the other students but also the professor.

Being a sister to one of the best pathwalkers in the galaxy should surely be nice.

With my hatred for the class disparity growing each second, the professor dismissed the class after two hours, with me being the only one who couldn't awaken the Telekinesis path. At least it wasn't as humiliating as what happened at the Melee Class—probably no one had even realized my failure as the entire class was just an individual exercise.

Before I left the park, however, I approached Daisy, who was crouched, trying to rub the green stain the grass left on her white jeans away.

"Hey," I hollered, taking her attention. "Daisy, was it?"

She nodded and immediately focused back on rubbing the stain.

"Why did you call him?"

"Who?"

"You know who."

"I don't. Go away."

I sighed. "Look, I don't know what kind of problem you or Matias have with me, but you're just being pathetic at this point."

"Go away."

I ignored her. "How old are you guys? 18? 19? You're almost adults now, act like one."

"I said go away!" She yelled this time. "I don't have any problems with you! Matias searched for you the whole morning, and just wanted me to text him if I saw you! Now, go away!"

With her loud voice echoing in the park, the students around us stared at me with angry eyes, thinking I was harassing her.

"Well, carry on, then," I said, slowly walking away. "If you want to be his lapdog."

I left the park. I wasn't sure why I confronted her, but I thought that if I didn't want to be constantly bullied by these guys, I had to assert that I wasn't a weakling.

Though, my main goal with this confrontation was to at least gather some sort of information about Matias: about his path, what he cares about that I could use as a weapon against him, his personality other than being a douche, and so on. Of course, I wouldn't ask these questions directly to Daisy, but I would at least try to probe her about him, because if I wanted to win this fight, I had to be smart about it.

I should've expected from our small encounter in the elevator that she wouldn't be so open to having a conversation with me, and now I had probably made myself known as a creep to the students in the Mental Paths class.

I should awaken a path about humiliation, with all the fucking things I went through these last two days.

I arrived at the dormitory and found another box from MANC waiting for me in front of my door—I didn't have to open it to know what was inside, as I heard a lot of clanking inside the box while I took it inside.

Sure enough, it was what I expected: an almost four-meter-long metal chain.

Finally, I smiled. I can finally begin the grind.

I had already made my plans, and after analyzing the chain and trying to make myself comfortable with it for a few minutes, I left to dorms to go to the Shopping Square.

From the hardware store, I bought some thin wire, metal glue, and needlenose pliers, and headed to the pharmacy. I got two bottles of those coagulators (which were quite expensive, to be honest) the doctors used on me as they pulled out cables from my skin when I woke up from the simulation, and a lot of bandages. And then I went back to my dorm.

I cut the wire into small, needle-like parts with the pliers and I glued them into the chain. It didn't take too long to realize that metal glue was not enough for this mission, and I had to weld these small parts to make them durable, but glue would probably work for a while too.
After about an hour, I managed to cover the entirety of the chain with small pieces of wires, essentially crafting a spiked chain.

I took a deep breath. Here we go.

I wrapped the chain around my left arm like a bandage, and as I tightened the end of the chain, the spikes immediately punctured my skin, slowly drawing blood.

It hurt. A lot.

I had read about these kinds of torture devices used by religious characters trying to strengthen their will in a Dan Brown novel that I didn't remember quite well, but knowing that there was no way of the academy selling us self-torture devices, I had to be crafty about it.

[Current pain level: High.
STR increase: 2.8 (Total: 3.8)
DEX increase: 2.2 (Total: 3.8]

My muscles contracted and I felt alive. My left arm was already weaker than my right since I hadn't used it for an entire year in the simulation, so sacrificing my already kind of useless arm for improving my path seemed like the most obvious choice.

I hurt myself constantly for the next few hours, only stopping to apply the coagulator when any of the wounds started to become too deep. Since the wire I used was quite thin and I cut them into tiny pieces, the bleeding never became too severe—it just looked like I had dozens of pimples bleeding at the same time.

This, however, didn't satisfy me. This process didn't require effort other than enduring the pain, so I tore a paper into small pieces and began focusing on one of them.

I thought I wouldn't be able to concentrate on it too well because of the pain, but with the energy flowing in my muscles, I felt alive. I tried to grasp the paper pieces with almost… anger. Anger towards everything I'd gone through, the world, the people…

After spending my entire afternoon, the paper was floating on my palm.

[You unlocked a new path, yeeey!]

[Path of Telekinesis

Type: Mental
Grade: F-

The resonance of the matter will guide you, and the matter will be guided by you.

You can move objects up to (INT) gram with your mind.
Weight limit: 11g
Range limit: 1 meter]

The other students had unlocked this useless shit in an hour or two, while it took me eight hours, counting the time I spent in the class. For six hours in my room I sat, while getting pierced by small spikes, bleeding, to concentrate on a piece of paper, and this was the path I got.

I knew that upgrading this path would be absolutely insane, turning me into a literal Jedi, but with its current state, it had no use. Most likely, I had to either upgrade the grade of the path or raise my intelligence score to get better results with this, which would be a long-term project.

Still, I didn't falter and was quite happy. One step at a time, I thought, even if I have to take more steps than anybody else.

The privileged folk, with their fancy lifestyles, can't keep up this pace. No way they can torment themselves like this. Not only physically, but mentally too, sitting on a couch, focusing on a fucking piece of paper for six hours without any breaks. That is my advantage: outworking everyone with my willpower.

I stood up, cracking my sore back the chain clanking with each move. Just when I opened the fridge to find something to eat, a beep echoed from my watch. A message.
[Hey, Kayra. This is Tyler. Got your number from MANC's system. Wanna hang out?]

While with my newly kindled passion, I wanted to work on myself more, I also realized that I shouldn't be pushing myself too hard. Plus, Tyler had promised to prepare me a workout routine, so this also counted towards my "grind."

[Sure,] I replied, [See you in 20?]

[Hell yeah! I'll meet you in front of your dorm.]

I uncurled the chain, applied the coagulator, and then bandaged my arm from shoulder to wrist.

I probably have to get some healing skills if I want to make the best of this path.

While the Faculty of Spirituality did give courses about healing, all of them required more vigor than any other classes, so again, this was another long-term project.

Though, can't I awaken paths on my own? If I can learn how they do it from a Spirituality student, I can work on it on my own.

Sure, with my only 9 Vigor, it'd probably take me forever, but it seemed doable. The only problem would be if paths required minimum stats, in which case, would be impossible.

I made a mental note to ask about this to Veritas, along with what even was vigor and how could I raise it, and went to meet with Tyler.

He greeted me with a big smile, but it quickly faded away as soon as he saw my bandaged arm.

"What happened, man?" He exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

I smiled widely. "Trust me, I couldn't be better."

"You sure? What happened? Just tell me."

"Don't worry about it, it's related to the weapon I chose. I'll tell you on the way."

"If you say so."

We went to the same fried chicken restaurant (apparently, Tyler loved fried chicken) though it was more like a typical self-service fast food place rather than an actual restaurant. Only a few tables occupied its porch and most people just took the food and ate it somewhere else. The sun, however, had already set and it was mostly empty, so we easily found a table to sit at.

I told about my chain class on the way and lied about how wrapping the chain around my arm irritated my skin, so I had to bandage it. I didn't tell him about my path, or the great lengths I went to torture myself—telling other people the details of your paths, as I had learned from looking at the academy's forums occasionally, was kind of a taboo since MANC had a lot of tournaments that put students against each other.

Not that I don't trust Tyler, but I still want to keep the details of my initial path to myself.

"Chains are so cool, man," Tyler said, scraping the meat off from its bone with a single move of his teeth in a practiced manner. "You can be like Kratos. Awesome."

"Which weapon class did you take?"

"Well, I'm more about brute force, so just went with axes. Boring, I know, but I like it."

"Nah, axes are never boring. I'd argue they're even cooler than chains. Come to think of it, you can also be like Kratos. With a big, frozen axe."

Tyler's laugh echoed in the restaurant. "You're right! You'll be the younger Kratos, and I'll be the old, nordic version. Buuut…"

"Hm?"

"If you wanna be like Kratos, you have to put some muscles, man." Tyler took out a few sheets of paper from his backpack, handing them to me. "Here, I prepared a workout program and a diet plan. All those foods you can find in the grocery stores around the dorms. If you don't want to cook any meals, I also made an alternative plan that only has prepared food you can get from restaurants or order to your room. For the workout, I made a three-day program, push-pull-legs. I have to see what kind of moves you like to do, though, so we can tweak the split after a few sessions according to your liking. Should be enough for now, though."

I looked at the papers, then at Tyler with complete awe. "Wow. This is… So much better than I expected."

Tyler scratched his head, embarrassed. "My whole life was about wrestling and bodybuilding in the simulation, so I know a few useful things."

"Thank you so much, dude. I honestly cannot emphasize enough how useful this is. I really appreciate it, but… Why? Why did you spend so much time creating this? Why do you help a pathetic guy like me?"

"Hm? Don't tell me you are one of those melancholy folk? Imposter syndrome and all?"

"I'm not. I guess. But everybody treats me like shit since I woke up in this new world. I'm just surprised that you care about me this much."

"Well, we Synthetics should stick together. We are the only ones who know what this world used to be like from experience. Imagine mentioning Kratos to someone from this world, they will probably have no idea what we're talking about. We have a camaraderie here between us, y'know?"

Tyler hit my chest with his gentle fist and continued. "Plus, despite what people tell you, or what you tell yourself, you aren't pathetic. As I've said before, I've been in your shoes. I saw a weak and pathetic guy when I looked in the mirror every single morning. But what really changed me wasn't this fifty kilograms of muscle I built, no. It was accepting that I wasn't a pathetic guy and that I deserved to be so much better than that. All I'm trying to say is… Love yourself so that you want the best for yourself, giving you all the motivation you need to improve."

For some reason, my eyes watered, and I turned my head to the side to hide it, though Tyler could probably see right through me. Nobody had said anything like this to me before, not only in this world but in my previous life too. People never cared for me, and when they did after my diagnosis, it was not care or love, but pity.

"You," I said, my voice cracking. "You know how to strike the right chord."

"Man, you forgot I was a professional wrestler? Cutting promos was even more important to build your character and persona than your actual wrestling skills. Got theater and improvisation classes before, so I'm a good talker, y'know? Not that I was lying just now. Just saying that I know my way with the words."

I wiped my eyes and looked at this big golden retriever disguised as a giant bodybuilder. "I honestly don't know how to thank you."

"Follow that program and I'll call it even."

I smiled. "Deal. When should I start following it?"

"You been to a gym before?"

I shook my head.

"Then I'll come with you for the first few sessions, showing you how machines work, the correct form and stuff. Tomorrow evening work for you?"

I looked at the piece of paper. "How about… Right now?"

Tyler let out a big grin. "Now, that's the enthusiasm I want!"

***

Something incredible happened during the workout.

Tyler started me with close to no weights—using only the bar of the barbell or choosing the absolute minimum weight option for most machines. Even this made my muscles scream with pain, but that was exactly why I had hit a goldmine.

The more my muscles ached, the more my pain level increased. The more my pain level increased, the more strength I gained. The more strength I gained, the lighter the weights became.

I could continue some sets for 20, maybe 30 reps, surprising even Tyler.

Sometimes, during the last moments of a set when my muscles burned in anguish, my pain levels would even hit "Agony," giving me a momentary boost for a few more reps and immediately decreasing back to high or moderate after I stopped, but… that gave me an amazing idea.

While I didn't want to do it at first, I explained my Path of Suffering in detail to Tyler. After his heartfelt speech, I began to trust him with my entire life and was sure that he wouldn't tell it to anybody else.

So, what we had come up with was that, when my pain level hit High during any exercise, Tyler would quickly up the weights until the pain level increased to Agony, in which case he would once again put more weights quickly for a few more reps—starting the set with only a kilogram, I would finish it with almost ten.

After finishing the workout, Tyler made me eat a big meal and promised to tweak both the workout and diet plan to suit this breakthrough. We then separated, and my muscles still ached so much when I returned to my dorm room that my pain level was constantly High.

With the dopamine in my veins, I lay on my bed and spent an hour floating a tiny pebble I found on my way back to the dormitory to practice the Telekinesis path, while asking a few basic questions to Veritas.

Then with the cloak hitting midnight, I decided to sleep. Even with the headaches Veritas gave me, the tiredness of my body made me fall asleep in just a few minutes.

However, I woke up around dawn with a beeping sound in my head.

[Wakey wakey, Kayra! Your Path of Suffering has leveled up!]

[Path of Suffering

Type: Mental
Grade: F+ ➜ E-

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

The more your body is in physical pain, the stronger you will be. Depending on your pain level, your Willpower score will be added to your STR and DEX.
Pain level - Meager: Nothing
Pain level - Moderate: +(WILL)/10
Pain level - High: +(WILL)/5
Pain level - Agony: +(WILL)/3]

Fucking amazing. Now when I'm in Agony, my stats will get an extra… 9.3 points, making me slightly better than an average Synthetic.

[Good morning and congratulatioooons again, Kayra! I'm proud of you, so I'm leveling you up!!]

[You are now level 2! You have three stats points you can assign freely!]

I couldn't contain my smile. "Thank you, Veritas."

[No problem! But I'm not done! While you slept like a teeny-tiny little baby, I helped your body build back the muscles you tore during the workout!]

Two more panels appeared in my vision.

[Your strength has increased to 2.]

[Your strength has increased to 3.]

My smile twisted into a sinister smirk.

Just you wait, Matias, because It all snowballs from here. I'll show you what it's like to screw with me.