Ilsung woke up from his sleep. He realized it was already the next day, and before he could get out of bed, growling sounds were emanating from his stomach. "Damn, I'm starving"

He got out of bed, brushed his teeth, took a bath, and left for the dining hall. He was up quite early and breakfast wasn't ready yet, he brought several energy bars and two cans of cold coffee and returned to his room.

Ilsung ate a few energy bars and chased them with a can of cold coffee. He was no longer hungry, he kept the remaining energy bars and the can of cold coffee on the table.

*I should explore the other facilities they have here. They should have a gym here, I can finally get to exercise my body.*

Ilsung left the dormitory building, outside there was a new signboard that had directions for various buildings. He followed the directions to arrive at a new building. Ilsung didn't remember seeing this building when he arrived.

*With this speed I bet they can build an entire city block within a week or two*  Ilsung laughed.

He walked into the gymnasium, which had three floors, he walked up the stairs to the upper floors, but they were empty. He returned to the 1st floor, there was a lot of training equipment present. Dumbbell sets, cable machine, lat pulldown, chest press, leg press, seated triceps extension machine, and several bench press stations equipped with barbells and weights. The gym looked fully equipped.

Ilsung examined the equipment and realized they were all reinforced and much stronger and heavier than normal equipment. He decided to use the bench press. Ilsung replaced the normal barbell with the heaviest and sturdiest one he could find and loaded the heaviest weights from all the racks nearby. The barbell was now weighing close to 1400 Kilos. If the barbell stands weren't already reinforced, they would have been reduced to rubble by the weight.

Ilsung wanted to go heavier, but the stand ran out of super heavy plates. He positioned himself on the bench and lifted the barbell off the stand. Ilsung accelerated the mana flow in his body, strengthening it. He started lifting it in earnest. After 10 reps, he finished his set and placed the loaded barbell on the stand. Before he started lifting, he was doubtful if his human form could endure it and if it would croak. Luckily, using mana and constantly casting heal magic, he managed to complete a set.

Ilsung was getting excited, he could feel the deep stimulation in his muscles as mana surged violently in his body, the healing magic he used ensured that his muscles, tendons, and bones were constantly repaired as they got damaged under the heavy load.

He started his second set, this time he finished his set with 15 reps. He was now sweating profusely, his pectoral muscles and triceps were on fire. He inclined the flat bench so he could target his shoulders. After another set of 15 reps, most of his upper body muscles were on fire, throbbing with immense pain.

Ilsung saw a vending machine placed in a corner, he grabbed a dozen protein bars from it. He began to tear the wrapper and stuff his mouth with protein bars, after nearly choking on them, he completed devouring the protein bars, he grabbed an energy drink from the vending machine and chugged it.

"huuu!" Ilsung was shouting to hype himself as he remembered training scenes from various movies. He grinned. "Time for some bicep curls".

Ilsung tried a bicep curl with the 1400 Kilo barbell. He realized it wouldn't be possible unless he gave it his all. He pushed mana into his biceps and pulsed it at a vigorous rate, he cast advanced heal on his body and began to curl. After 5 reps, he felt his arms would fall off his body, he felt an intense pain that was waiting to send him into a coma any minute now. Ilsung, deep in his mind, felt that he would die if he continued to do whatever he was doing.

But Alas, willpower was Ilsung's middle name. He couldn't have sacrificed his body and survived the dimension prison without willpower. This feeling of imminent death and disabling pain were merely the screams of his frail human body, true strength lies in one's soul. Ilsung brought out his inner strength, overpowering the intuition of his body. He continued to curl the barbell. After 15 reps, he placed the barbell on the stand and sat down on the bench.

*That must be the most intense bicep curl in history.*

Ilsung grinned, though his biceps and tendons were now torn, and immense pain was coursing through his arms, he was excited. The pulsing mana and the advance heal combined to rebuild the muscles of his torso, and he was sure he would become much stronger and be able to use mana more efficiently.

After resting for a while, Ilsung chugged another bottle of energy drink. He loaded the inclined leg press machine to the max, 5000 Kilos. Ilsung wasn't afraid of the machine failing because it looked like it was the sturdiest and most reinforced machine in the gym. He increased the incline of the weights to make it harder.

Ilsung positioned himself on the machine, he pushed an extremely large amount of mana into his legs, and he pushed the weight with his legs using all of his strength. After 20 reps, he was done. He rolled out of the machine, his legs were shaking and contracting as the torn muscles in his legs were slowly repaired. He crawled to the nearest bench and using his arms, lifted himself onto the bench.

His body was damaged and exhausted beyond words, he closed his eyes, and before long Ilsung was napping. When he woke up from his nap it was nearly 11 AM, though the intense pain was still present, he regained control of his legs. He painfully walked to the vending machine, and grabbed all of the remaining protein bars, stuffing them into his jacket and track pant pockets. He then returned to his room.

Ilsung took a warm bath and lay down on his bed. On his way back to the room, he could see men and women with bags, entering the dorm building, he could also see a lot of people visiting the main Academy building.

*Most of them should arrive in a few days.*

Ilsung grabbed a protein bar from the pile he stole *ahem* brought from the vending machine. The protein bars were piled up on his table. After munching on the protein bar, he grabbed the can of coffee and started to sip, it was no longer cold.

*It tastes good even if it's no longer cold.*

He chugged the remaining coffee and threw the can into the trash. He made the tactical decision to continue his nap from before. It was for recovery and certainly not because he was too lazy to do anything else.

The next day, Ilsung repeated the same routine, though his muscles were still extremely sore, he didn't let up on training to failure. Over the next few days, all Ilsung did was, work out in the gym, eat protein bars and chug energy drinks. By the 5th day, Ilsung had already gotten used to the weights and most of his muscles, tendons, and bones were rebuilt. His body was now vastly stronger than before and he could use mana much more effectively. Ilsung felt he used the gym to its maximum potential and since he no longer felt it to be a challenge, he decided that today would be the last day.

Before bidding farewell to the gym, Ilsung remembered something. He went to the corner of the gym, a sly smile appeared on his face. When Ilsung exited the gym, an empty vending machine stood in the corner.

After coming to the room, Ilsung spread the protein bars and energy drinks he stole *ahem* brought, onto his bed. He then placed them in his desk drawers and neatly arranged them.

He took a warm bath and as it was lunchtime, he went to the dining hall. He could see a lot of people eating. He picked up a plate, and added a big scoop of rice, a big serving of bulgogi, kimchi, and a salad to the side, and also grabbed a pouch of fruit juice.

Ilsung found an empty table, and as he walked toward it, he heard someone calling it to him.

"Hey buddy, here" Mr. X waved at him. "Come, sit with us".

Ilsung walked over and sat at the table. "Hey, I didn't see you guys when I came in. This place looks packed!"

"We didn't see you these last few days, where were you?" Mr. X asked as he sipped his juice pack.

"I was working out at the gym" Ilsung replied and began eating. The rice along with the thin slice of grilled beef tasted fantastic. He was almost constipated and lost his palette because of all the protein bars he ate over the past week, this was a much-needed change of diet.

"Training will start tomorrow. They will begin with an introduction lecture tomorrow" Ban Yongsun said.

"Finally...I was starting to get bored, I was sleeping all day after working out at the gym!" Ilsung said, sipping fruit juice from the pouch.

After a brief conversation and finishing his lunch, Ilsung returned to his room. As the sky darkened, and dinner time was approaching, an announcement was heard throughout the building hallways and inside the rooms.

"An Introduction session will begin tomorrow, all trainees should be seated in the Auditorium of the Academy building by 8 AM." The announcement repeated a few more times.

Ilsung wasn't in the mood to eat, he grabbed a can of cold coffee from the vending machine in the dining room. After drinking the coffee and disposing of the empty can in the trash, he exited the dorm and walked toward the large field in front of the main building.

There was a large central field surrounded by a large oval track. Ilsung started to run, and after a few laps, he started to increase his pace as his body warmed up. 10 minutes later, Ilsung was now running fast and his speed continued to increase at an alarming rate.

Ilsung wanted to see how fast he could run, without using mana. He was now running at a speed of 120 Km/h, he felt it was decently fast and continued to run for 15 minutes, he stopped when he felt that he couldn't run any longer. Ilsung was sweating like a pig, and his t-shirt was soaked, after catching his breath he returned to the dorm.

He chugged all the energy drinks he had in his room, and after quenching his thirst, he took a long bath. After lying down on the bed, he circulated mana throughout his body, relieving the burn in his legs and also alleviating his exhaustion. He set the alarm for 6 in the morning and dozed off to sleep.

~~

END OF CHAPTER 11