He went to the cabinet, took out multiple powders, and started mixing them together, creating a grotesque-looking supplemental drink.
After finishing up, he looked at this "thing" that others might consider a disaster of etiquette feeling partially disgusted.
He threw out a quick prayer to his future self, hoping that this would take him another step closer to his dream of absolute freedom and power.
He breathed in a deeply, closed his nose, and muttered, "bottoms up…"
Gulping down the whole thing in about 30 seconds, he could feel the grainy, thick, viscous liquid that hardly resembled water sliding down his throat.
It felt like he was drinking semen, atleast this is what he imagined itd be like.
Andrew took the bottle away from his lips, grimacing.
"It never gets easier…" he thought, throwing the bottle with pinpoint accuracy into the garbage can.
He quickly got another water to flush down the rest of it, before realizing he was just gonna have to brush his teeth.
Upon finishing his morning routine, he left the apartment, walking down the hallway towards the elevator, he got in and went down to the first floor from the 3rd floor.
This was the cheapest apartment complex he could get his hands on, using money that he obtained from his parents' inheritance.
They had unfortunately passed away in a tragic accident due to a beast that slipped through the area's defenses.
Walking out of the elevator, Andrew said a simple good morning to the haggard-looking receptionist, who responded with a good morning back.
The whole apartment building was quite shabby to begin with, only being 5 floors in height.
Stepping outside, he took in the warm, fresh air from the summer breeze, it was already July.
He knew it would only last a couple months longer, but this was his favorite season.
Andrew looked around for a second, taking in the view, he saw people running down the street, simple mechanical cars were still in use at this point.
A far cry from his previous reality where they mastered quantum transportation.
He locked in on a group of young ladies, no older than early 20s, a smile came across his face.
The beauty standard in this world had massively increased due to the martial awakening, with health and longevity becoming the focus of everyone's lives.
"Peace…." he thought to himself, taking a quick glance at every one of the girls' "features", which were truly quite remarkable.
He shook his head, clearing his thoughts, and then started his journey to the nearby park to start his workouts.
Along the way, he periodically glanced around him, enjoying the sight of the modern world where giant skyscrapers didn't exist everywhere anymore.
Andrew lived in a suburban area, closest to the outskirts of his state and city. It was a fairly normal neighborhood, with similar architecture to New York in the 2020s in his old world.
Arriving at the park, he immediately started his workout, he picked up a big rock from the side of the park with slight struggle.
If an ordinary person would've seen this though, they might suspect he had already awakened a low grade strength type talent.
This was all from his hard work and dedication, he immediately got started, placing the rock next to a pull-up bar, and began his bodyweight warmup.
His routine was a bit different than usual strength training or hypertrophy training (muscle size).
He understood the fact that human beings were dynamic creatures, it was best to train all axes of the body's capable movement.
His workouts consisted of a lot of omni/bi-directional movements, similar to how Shaolin monks trained.
Picking up the rock, he placed it in between his knees and squeezed before busting out 3 sets of 15 explosive pull-ups, with a hold at the top and maximum control at the bottom, and then he quickly transitioned into 4 sets of 20 reps of hanging leg raises, with the same rock in between his knees for extra resistance.
He prioritized freedom of movement, control, and balance more than pure strength, because strength could only be utilized for fighting when the entire kinetic chain was connected.
Pushups, single-leg squats, lunges, overhead press, multiple forms of Olympic lifts, as well as mobility work under load.
If he couldn't lift the same amount of weight in multiple positions, then he knew he had to dial in on that axis.
Finishing up after about an hour and a half, he quickly got into a meditative position against a nearby tree to recover his breathing.
Here was where he trained his mind, 30 minutes of deliberate meditation, very similar to how monks did meditative practice.
From mindfulness to full body connection and energy transfer, to exploring his subjective world of experience.
Afterwards came the real pain, conditioning.
He grabbed a stone he had broken off another rock from a year prior that he crudely ground down into roughly the shape of a pole.
Rolling it across his shins with moderate pressure, he felt an intense pain and crunching feeling.
By now, he was all too familiar with this, but it was still miserable to experience.
"Think about the talent…. Think about the big booty martial arts girls…" he thought, eyes closed, a grimace on his red face.
Afterwards he moved into slapping the rock he grabbed earlier with his palms, and more lightly hitting the back of his hand on it with moderate force.
Rock hugs, tree knees, finger jabs to the trunk of a tree, and light tree trunk headbutts from multiple directions to condition his skull….
45 minutes later, Andrew laid down on the grass, with the sun illuminating his lean vascular body.
"Finally, done for the day…" A smile forming on his face.
"Time to go home, cook some food, and down another supplement-heavy protein shake…"
"All for thick mamis…. No I mean absolute freedom…"
Climbing to his feet, he picked up the rock and placed it back in its respective area.
Andrew started to walk back, his whole body feeling like a wet noodle, ready to collapse at any moment, marking a successful day of training.
Along his walk, he saw individuals with robes who appeared to be martial disciples.
He looked on with a subtle yearning.
There was a feeling that he wouldn't be a match for these people in any aspect.
"Damn…"
"I really hope I awaken a good talent…"
He silently hoped that his parents blessed him with good genes.
Just as this thought dissipated…
There was a chime in the depths of his mind.
And then, something inexplicable happened.
a blue screen flickered in front of his face, solidifying into a holographic grayish blue image.
[System Awakening in Progress: 50%]
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