Chapter 4: Chapter 4 : Sneaking around and exercising

*Huff huff huff huff *

He catches his breath after reaching the gym. Close call at the last corner before he reached here gives him the cold sweats. Although he bought the skill, it's only the basic level. He's pretty sure that he's caught by the camera and some people but they ignored him.

"Why do I feel insulted?" he ponders. 

Hiddle already thought of everything. Maybe the boy will feel suffocated, so he allowed some mischief once in a while. After all, it's human nature to break out of the place holding them. For example; prison. There was no camera at the gym, so the old man came out of the monitoring room and returned to his bed. 

He got an alert for suspicious activity before, and he laughed seeing the boy crouch over and hide behind a potted plant. "It seems like the kid is really bored." He planned to ease up on his restriction and to put some cameras at the gym after this. 

To be honest, it's not that the skill sucks, it's just that the monitoring in the Manor was over the top. Hiddle was already alerted when he stepped out of his room, making his effort futile. But Ryan didn't know this at the time. 

The sneaking boy takes a deep breath and started warming up his body. He did some jumping jack, something that looks like an aerobic exercise but looks more like a silly dance, and a few others until he let out some sweats.

Ryan started with a simple test. He picked up some dumbbells and recorded his strength. He lifted it from the lightest weights, and moved slowly toward the heavier ones. Once he felt extreme strain on his muscles, he stopped his experiments immediately. 

It stops at 22 lbs. "What is the conversion rate of the pound to kilogram again?"

He then calculated in his head. Luckily the previous guy was pretty smart, so he quickly completed it. "Divide by this, so it's… 10 kg?". 

He's in shock. He looked at his hand and started to deny reality. "Yes- it's only the strength of my arm. It's very scrawny, and I just got out of bed."

No one knows to who he explained this to, but it worked as he calmed himself down. 

He went on to do the deadlift, 100-meter dash, and halfway doing the leg raise before he thought, 'That's enough for now.'

He convinced himself that the initial data is enough and he definitely didn't stop because he couldn't go on any longer. His legs were shivering and his arms flails around. He didn't have any other choice but to sat on the cold ground to recover.

This was the result of his experiment;

Arm strength - 10 to 15 kg

Weight lifting(full body) - 70 kg

100-meter dash - 25 seconds.

He can't help but show a wry smile when he saw the result."Maybe a pre-pubescent teenager could defeat me," he muttered self-depreciatingly. He wanted to say 'kid' at first, but that's too much of a blow to his ego.

"Atrophy in my body is very serious, with enough time I can be stronger...I think".

When putting back the weight, he slipped and accidentally dropped the weight to the rack. *Bang*Clang* The weight collided with the other weights and produced a loud sound. 

Flustered, he prepared himself for some guard bursting into the room. But after 5 minutes of waiting, it didn't happen. He realized that the people already know it's him at the gym. His face flushed red with embarrassment as the people were going easy on him. "They are treating me like a kid!" 

At this moment, he made a decision. He wanted to wait until he could analyze the serum, but his embarrassment influenced him to do it now.  He summoned the vial of gene optimization fluid that looks like a test tube with purplish fluid inside it. He drank the serum without any hesitation. 

A warm feeling spreads inside his body that can be compared to taking a hot bath. 'Well this is not that bad,' Ryan thought. Before he could enjoy it, intense pain came along with the heat. "Of course to strengthen the body...pain will come alongside it," Ryan said with gritted teeth.  All he wanted at this time was to rationalize the pain. 

On the genetic level, many of the useless genes in his body are burned away, causing him intense pain. The serum also strengthened his useful genes, such as his height, strength, muscle structure, recovery, intelligence, and more. 

He wanted to scream during the process but he's afraid Hiddle will come in and bring him to the hospital. "Huk..Argh...Kehuek..."

He lets out some stifled screams. It can't be helped that some noises escaped as the pain intensified.

After 20 minutes, the pain finally subsided. He didn't know what would happen before drinking it, and a little regretful that he didn't make enough preparation. "I should stop being so hasty."

The feeling of relief hit him as he didn't know how much longer he would hold on. There's a full-body mirror in the gym that he used to check his body. He took off his shirt revealing a skinny body. He's a little embarrassed seeing his bony condition, but there are some changes. 

Rather than the mummy-like figure he had, now it looks like an ordinary scrawny kid or a nerd that was always bullied in high school. He smiled - a little bit. The change wasn't obvious, but he could feel his body was different. 

He proceeded to make various poses in front of the mirror. There's something else that he didn't realize. The purple color in his eyes becomes much more prominent. 

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He tested out his body but there is no notable increase in his body strength. It's a little easier to lift the 15 kg dumbbell, but it is still hard for him to lift the 20 kg ones. He said with disdain, "All those pain, but…. nothing" 

He ponders about it, then realizes the keyword is 'gene'. "That gene optimization fluid perfects the body, not increasing strength." He surmised that his body had changed from the genetic level. 

After all, it's only a low-quality gene fluid. It's not a super-soldier serum. He cannot expect to become Captain America after one session. After accepting the result, he felt hungry. He felt..really..really hungry! 

He waltzed out of the door and hurriedly goes to the kitchen. He bumped into some patrol members, which he greeted calmly and continued walking. It's not like they didn't know where he was so it's stupid to sneak into the kitchen. 

There's no one there when he arrived. He rummaged for food and took out some bread, peanut butter, ham, mayonnaise, tuna, half a chicken, and condiments. He gorged himself on a feast after two weeks of eating hospital food -- even at home!  Eating sandwiches with multiple layers of filling, tuna out of the can, ripping the flesh out of the chicken with his teeth, and some fruit he could find in the fridge.

At this time, his body needed the energy to perfected his genes and made some changes. He's too hungry now to think about what was happening. After downing his second jug of milk, he felt extremely sleepy and walked groggily to his room to sleep. 

...

The morning after, Hiddle walks into his young master's room. It's 10 o'clock now, a little later than when he used to wake up the kid. The old butler walked to the closed curtain and opens it mercilessly.

"Urgh" the sleeping beauty groaned as the sunlight hit his face.

"It seems you have a fun time last night Young Master" 

The boy kept gesturing to close the curtain, but Hiddle ignored him. He peeked from the pillow that he grabbed to cover his eyes and saw the ruthless man there. Helpless, he got out of bed unwillingly. He went to clean up, brush his teeth, take a massive shit, and changed his clothes. His condition feels better than ever as the serum also helps in recovering hidden injuries. 

Ryan greeted Hiddle after he's done and went to get some breakfast. Today he had some chocolate chip pancakes which surprised him greatly.

" I thought you didn't want to feed me human food." Ryan gorged himself in the stacks of 5 pancakes after he pour syrup on it. 

Hiddle smiles at the snark and said, "If I take it from you for so long, it may turn you into an animal that devours chicken in the middle of the night." 

*Cough* Ryan almost choked when he heard what Hiddle said. He kind of forgot what happened last night in the kitchen as his body was in auto mode. 

After the banter, Hiddle asked him what he's going to do today. He wanted to study and he started from his high school books. There were a lot of things he missed out on and  he planned to get to it slowly. 

During his studies, he realized that his memory was better than usual. If he needed to read 3-4 times to memorize something, now he only needed to read it 1-2 times. Learning becomes so much more enjoyable when you understand it. 

This may be the effect of the gene optimization fluid or maybe the previous Ryan IQ is high. Overall, this was a good thing for him as it's easier for him to pass the test. He planned to take the SAT or the GED when he was ready. 

A month passed by very quickly, and now his body condition was getting better and better. This was the result of a healthy diet, care by the old man, and the serum he took. He's also a little bit taller by an inch now. 

The doctor praised him during his checkup and said he only needed another month to complete what should have been a 6-month long physiotherapy treatment. He looked at Hiddle with a smug face and got smacked at the back of his head instead. 

'The kid is being rebellious recently.' Hiddle was glad that the kid was lively but a little worried about his character.'His attitude changes a little compared to before, but it's normal for people to change when they go through a traumatic experience.'

Although Ryan had tried his best, Hiddle still saw the differences between him and the previous Ryan. 

In his studies, Ryan had completed the high school level of knowledge and was continuing at the university level. He didn't think that there was a time in his life when he was going to enjoy studying, but life gives you surprises. 

That's not all. He continued to investigate his identity, his family, the economic situation of the country, the level of technology and culture of this world. Ryan Knight belongs to the Knight family in which the Knight industry was a titan in automobiles, aviation, and shipbuilding. 

Although it cannot be compared to Starks industry and Osborne corporation which leads the economy. The Knight's name was recognized by the majority of the world with a market cap value of 10 billion dollars. 

As of 2005, the highest technology for mobile phones is the 3g phone, there were fewer network communication towers, WiFi is not widespread, and PlayStation 2 has just been released. Ryan wanted to continue to dig, but he settled for this knowledge for now. 

It's because he got an idea, referencing a technology company with a bitten fruit as its logo in his previous life, it'll be nice to make a smartphone into this world. He stroked his hair, "will I be bald after this, or do I have to change my name to Ryan Jobs?" 

No one in this world will reject getting richer. That's a fact as long as the people can keep their conscience. This is also a part of his plan as he can trade gold to the system for funds. He didn't want to bankrupt his father if he got into the higher tier. 

He still needed to research how to make a smartphone, as he wasn't Tony Stark, he can't make something on a whim.

Almost seeing the rectangular screen that he missed a lot in his daily life , he muttered with determination. "Wait for me, my friend. I will bring you earlier to the world." 

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