Chapter 20: Chapter 20 – Hugh goes the distance

Natalie and I spent the next couple of hours streaming shows. It was Neflix and chill without using chill as a euphemism. I mean, there was a little bit of cuddling - using the excuse of having to crowd together on the couch to see the laptop - but that was barely even PG rated.

We grabbed lunch at a place called Soup Plantation. It was okay. Nat liked it more than me, which made sense as it was her suggestion, and we headed back to her place for more screen time, switching to YouTube.

Then I left to get ready for the date, figuring I needed to put on something better than a superhero t-shirt and cargo shorts. After staring at my closet for way too long, I chose a blue Henley that matched my eyes and a pair of khakis. I even used hair gel to calm that beast living atop my head. Still, looking in the mirror made me wince. There was nothing I could do about the pudginess.

Well, I could start working out, but that wouldn't help before time to pick up Natalie.

I stopped at a florist on the way. $75! Ouch! I never realized dating was so expensive.

The flowers were totally worth it, though. Needless to say, no one had ever bought them for Nat before, and she was over the moon delighted. It was nice making her feel so appreciated.

I opened the car door for her and, at the Italian restaurant I picked out, I pulled out her chair. And we just talked and ate and did normal, I guess, date stuff. At times, things were awkward as all get out but most of the time things were great. She made me laugh. I did the same for her. We talked about her growing up - she was the stereotypical horse girl, spending as much of her time riding as she could up until she turned fourteen and realized that the shows just made her too nervous - and about me being a comic book nerd.

Dinner was nice, but nothing particularly noteworthy happened. The movie afterward, a big budget summer blockbuster action superhero extravaganza - well, let's just say that it gave both of us something to complain about on the way home. Is it me, or are the quality on those movies going downhill a little? I couldn't remember disliking any of the others in the series.

Anyway, part of the issue might have been that I was distracted during the film. I'd never been in a dark theater sitting next to a girl I was on a date with before. Our knees accidentally touched during the opening credits, and it felt like I'd been shocked. The theater was practically empty - the movie had been out a long time and was near the end of its run - and it occurred to me that there were all kinds of things that two individuals on a date could get up to in a dark theater. It would probably even be worth some good XP given that there was a risk of exposure.

Yeah. I had to mentally slap myself. De-escalate. That was the plan. What I was thinking was the opposite of that.

Anyway, I walked her to her door, gave her a slightly less chaste kiss than the previous night, and headed home, much less frustrated this time. And that was it. My first ever date.

Two things struck me. One, I was glad it was with Natalie. She continued to rock my world in every single way. And two, I couldn't figure out what I'd been so nervous about. It had been nice.

I set my alarm and got up early the next morning. Time for my least favorite activity of all - going to the gym. I've always been a bit uncoordinated, so any athletic endeavor just wasn't my thing, which naturally resulted in the pudginess. I drug my butt out of bed for two good reasons, though.

One, I'd put off using that free attribute point about as long as I could possibly stand, and, since testing the increase required treadmills, it was off to that dreaded place.

Two, I had to face the possibility that I might have to start working out. I know, a dreadful thought. What could possible force me to such utter extremes? Look, there had to be a reason that I received system access, right? If I was in one of the novels I like reading, I wouldn't be spending all my time on my budding relationship with the person I hope will become my girlfriend. No, I'd be fighting for my life. Every increase and every point might mean the difference between life and death. And I just couldn't escape the conclusion that things would head in that direction. I mean, the system was already pushing me to expand the number of users. Was that because I'd need more people to fight what was coming? And, if the apocalypse was on the way, I needed to get ready for it. And if there was one thing that reading litrpgs taught me, it was that players who gained their stats through training and hard exercise were better off than ones who just got stuff handed to them by the system.

Okay. Really three reasons. I'd realized days ago that I should have been training to see if I could increase attributes on my own, but, frankly, the prospect of going to the gym felt that bad to me. The real reason that I was able to make myself this morning was that, if bad stuff really did go down, it wasn't just my life on the line anymore. I'd inextricably involved Nat in this mess, too. For the both of us to survive, I had to get stronger.

I dressed in knit shorts, a t-shirt, and sneakers - I didn't shower, obviously, though I did brush teeth, etc. - and headed for the door. A quick drive found me at the sports complex, and, as I turned into the parking lot, I chanted softly, "Don't be crowded. Don't be crowded. Don't be crowded."

Success! There were lots of parking spots open in the main lot in front. When I'd been forced to come here before - freshman orientation required we visit every main facility on campus for a class grade - I'd had to park in the garage in the back. Available spaces were a great sign.

A big room had several televisions playing one of the cable news channels and rows of exercise equipment facing it - the ones that looked like bicycles, the ones that simulated climbing stairs or something, and, of course, treadmills. The place was almost deserted, early rising for the win. I walked up to one of the treadmills.

A quick internet search had turned up the factoid that the speed of an average jog was four to six miles per hour. Since I was doing an endurance test and I didn't want to take all day, I figured that the faster I went, the quicker I'd tire out. Then I'd rest for a while and do it again, averaging the two for a baseline.

I stepped on and started running. The thing was pretty easy to use. Just move your feet and it both starts a timer and calculates simulated distance. It also computed calories burned and, I guess, other stuff, but I wasn't interested in those.

Eight miles per hour was my goal, two mph above the top of the average range, and it didn't seem all that hard to get up to that point. The test was to see how far I could run maintaining it. My research had told me that a trained runner can go that pace for twenty to thirty minutes. I didn't expect to make it that long.

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And I didn't. At the three minute mark, I was already gassed, but I'd read that, if you can make it past 5 minutes, it got easier or something? Spoiler alert, it didn't. I gave up after five and a half minutes, literally counting down the seconds to make it to exactly that extra half a minute.

And I was nearly dying. Three quarters of a mile. A little less than that actually. Ugh!

That was the exact problem that concerned me about litrpg combat. It was one thing to run around and swing a sword or whatever when your stamina was full, but, when you got tired, you couldn't ask your opponent to hold on while you caught your breath. Sure, increasing endurance would let me run for longer before reaching the point of exhaustion, but, once I hit that point, I was done if I relied only on the system. If, however, I'd trained myself to push past those difficult portions and keep going, I'd be able to stay in the fight.

As much as I didn't want to, I truly needed to come back here and do this Every. Single. Day.

I literally almost cried.

A website had said that I needed to rest between thirty-six to forty-eight hours between runs, and, while that sounded really good to me, I needed to get this done today. Besides, that was for like an actual multi-mile run. I was pretty sure what I did was halfway between a run and a sprint, and for sprints, you only needed to rest for a multiple of 8 times the amount of time it took you to complete it - so about forty-five minutes.

Worked for me.

For my second run/sprint/whatever, I lasted a dismal four minutes and fifty seconds. I simply could not force myself to run a second longer. I didn't even maintain the correct speed the entire time.

To hopefully clear the tiredness from my aching body, I added my free point to endurance as soon as I'd caught my breath enough to concentrate. Pretty much as soon as I confirmed the choice, I felt better, but that feeling wasn't quantifiable. I still waited the entire forty-five minutes before trying my post enhancement test.

Eight and a quarter minutes, a full one point one miles. Not bad. A fifty percent increase, much better than either Natalie's IQ or my agility. I highly suspected that the difference was a result of my being much more profoundly out of shape than I was clumsy.

Throwing good experimental procedures out the window, I didn't run a second post-enhancement test. I was just way too tired.

Just as I'd almost reached my car, I got a text from Nat.

<Are we hanging out today?>

I grinned.

<Sure. Just leaving the gym. I'll grab a shower and head over. Maybe an hour? Want me to pick up food?>

<Perfect. As an FYI, I'm a big fan of pepperoni pizza. Totally not hinting at all :)>

My face burst into a true smile. I really thought I was going to like dating. <Your wish is my command.>

<Speaking of which, since you chose our date activity last night, can I pick what we do today?>

<Absolutely!>

I had no idea what I'd just signed myself up for.

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