VRMMORPG - Chapter 3 (Patreon)

One day, Hugo was standing within a gym inside the complex he lived in.

He looked around at all the machines that were used for muscle building and conditioning. There were literally hundreds of all different types.

As the Child had told Hugo before the game’s launch, since a hundred years ago, humanity had begun to reach and surpass a wall that was previously thought to be the end of their potential.

Around the year 2050, what was known as the dawn of Superhumans graced the globe.

Athletes began pushing themselves to their furthest limits with what seemed like overly systematic and precise training. Machines were developed to condition the tiniest details of the human body, eliminating all weaknesses to speak of and pushing strengths further than they’ve ever gone.

Along with advances in medical technology and nutrition, the athletes who were the pioneers of this extreme training began to crash through wall after wall, reaching heights previously thought biomechanically impossible.

Sprinters blazing past the 9 second 100m dash.

Distance runners shattering the mile in under 3 minutes.

Deadlifters pulling over 1400 pounds off the floor with no equipment.

The first man to raw bench press 1000 pounds.

Record after record was shattered after a couple decades, and these monsters began to enter arenas for martial arts, which had also been quickly garnering more fame.

Everyone from boxers to wrestlers were beginning to push the limits of combat. They hit harder, swung faster, and became tougher. It wasn’t just athletics that exploded. The martial world followed soon after, adopting these extreme techniques and using technology to push what they knew about biomechanics and the limits of the human body.

This rise of martial masters began to show its effects in the real world as well.

Hugo remembered one incident that, while catastrophic, also made the martial world famous in an age of technology.

The Bloody Fist Massacre.

A horrible incident involving a single man who, having pushed himself to become a human weapon of sheer strength, speed, and dexterity, went out and brutally murdered nearly 600 people in merely 20 hours.

From police, to SWAT teams, to the military, that man had been able to kill so many people with nobody to stop him. Over 200 bullets were found buried in his body when he was finally killed, but shockingly enough, it wasn’t actually the military that killed him.

Only after 19 hours did someone finally step up to stop the man. Another man now dubbed the Martial Saint fought the crazed murderer for an hour, eventually tearing his head off with his bare hands and ending the massacre.

After that, the Martial Saint went on to promote the martial world and make it hugely popular. Men and women alike flocked to him, and he founded the world’s largest dojo, the Saint’s Pagoda.

The Saint’s Pagoda became a martial icon, and with that as the trigger, the era of Superhumans finally cemented itself. Humanity had finally unlocked another realm of being, one reserved for those who could push themselves beyond their mortal limits.

As for Hugo…

He wasn’t anywhere near becoming a superhuman. He hadn’t pushed himself beyond his mortal limits, and when he trained, it was merely to keep himself in great physical shape, not to try and make himself into a human monster.

Of course, the idea made Hugo’s testosterone fueled brain tingle in excitement, but he had always been focused on other things, like building the world’s most technologically advanced empire known as the Archive.

But now…

Hugo found himself bored. With the AGI built and running The Ascent, he didn’t have much to do. Hugo often afforded himself large breaks after major projects, and the development of the AGI was by far the largest project he’s ever focused on. Now, he didn’t need to do anything besides gradually improve his existing foundation, and all that could be done by his company without his input.

Long story short, he had lots of time on his hands, and he was beginning to get tired of watching.

Suri had also talked to him a lot about how fun the game was. She could talk for hours about it. But as Hugo had been hearing nothing but talks about The Ascent online, he often stopped her midway.

Regardless, he had contemplated joining the game for a few days.

And finally, he decided that he may as well give it a shot.

But of course, Hugo wasn’t one who would jump into something without having prepared first.

Since The Ascent integrated real life physical ability, he wanted to develop his mortal flesh first.

Of course, he wasn’t very familiar with how to do that, so he turned to the most reliable and knowledgeable person he knew.

The AGI.

Hugo was equipped with the latest and greatest Glass Eye, a mere earpiece that could interface with his mind. It was using that which allowed him to easily communicate with the Child AGI.

“Child.”

“Yes, Hugo?”

The AGI instantly responded. At the same time, a virtual image identical to the little girl he saw in the virtual world appeared in his vision.

Hugo faced the child.

“I’m looking to prepare my body before entering The Ascent. While I’m not going to try and turn myself into a superhuman, I definitely want my physical abilities to play a significant role in the gameplay, giving me an edge over the majority. Can you prepare me a training regime that would optimize me for the game?”

“Of course. In fact, I’ve prepared a few thousand terabytes worth of scientific material in order to generate the perfect training method that would allow even the world’s current strongest superhuman’s to far surpass their limits. I suppose you will be the first to follow the fruits of my analysis. However, I will need to take a biological scan of your anatomy in order to perfectly optimize the plan.”

*Click*

At that moment, Hugo heard one of the machines in the gym open, revealing a capsule the size of a person.

The child pointed to it.

“Step inside that capsule and I will be able to take a deep biological scan. It’ll only take a minute to receive the results.”

“Alright.”

Hugo nodded and walked over, laying himself inside the capsule. The device then sealed him inside, and light began to flash.

He heard the child’s voice as the capsule did its work.

“I’ve already seen the anatomic layout of your nervous system and have determined its sheer potential for change, which is rather high considering you’ve kept your body in shape for most of your life. Now with this scan, I’ll have a full scale analysis to compare to other scientific data and allow me to develop a completely unique and personalized training plan.”

*Ding!*

Just as she finished talking, the capsule stopped and opened, letting Hugo step out.

In his vision, he saw the child standing to the side. She tilted her head.

“Alright. I have all the data I need. The only other factor that will create deviations in my training plan will be your pain tolerance and mental fortitude. I can’t stop you from quitting, so your mental limits will be the only thing keeping me from pushing you to where you want to go. Naturally that means this training plan will be difficult, even with the supplements I’ve picked out for you.”

“Of course. I’m fully expecting to be pushed to my limits.”

“Very well.”

The child nodded with a small smile.

“I look forward to coaching you, Hugo. I will be able to test my theories in the real world. Your bodily constitution is only slightly above average. So aside from a few outstanding issues like insomnia, your results will be almost entirely determined by my systematic training, not your genetic advantages or disadvantages.”

“Good. I’m interested to see how far my normal self can go.”

Hugo nodded, and like that, he began the first day of his training regime.

………

……

“These are the Serums I’ve picked out for you. I even had some custom made for you.”

“Oh. Neat.”

Hugo smiled as he clicked open a large suitcase, letting out a cloud of cold vapor. Inside of it was a large cluster of hard glass vials of several different colors.

“Serums were developed during the dawn of the Superhumans. They’re filled with massive amounts of nutrition, vitamins, proteins, and all other types of necessary supplements to push your recovery rate and growth rate to its maximum. Only with these will you be able to withstand the training I have planned for you.”

“Fun.”

Hugo plucked a vial and raised it to eye level, seeing the purple fluid that flowed inside of it. The casing of the vial itself was filled with high tech devices, ones that continuously tracked the potency of the serum and whether or not it was still viable for consumption. If anything happened to it, the device would send out alerts.

“These are, of course, the highest quality Serums on the market. The custom ones cost around 8 thousand dollars per vial to make, and the standard ones were around 6 thousand. And those costs were only attainable because we ordered them in the name of Archive. They’re normally close to 15 thousand dollars. Anyway, you’ll be consuming 8 of these each day when I tell you to.”

“Around 60 thousand dollars a day, just for my training. These things are liquid gold.”

Hugo laughed a bit before setting the vial back down. He naturally wasn’t concerned about money. The Archive corporation was worth trillions and held even more in assets. It produced more value than entire countries.

The Child pointed to one of the vials in the suitcase.

“Drink that now and we’ll begin training.”

With curiosity, Hugo grabbed a green vial and pressed a button. That opened the vial, and he quickly downed the entire thing.

The liquid barely hit his stomach before his body began to feel a cool chill spread throughout it. After that chill though came a warm heat that made his blood boil.

“Start running, quickly.”

Shooing him onto a treadmill, the Child had Hugo begin a run at a brisk jog. Not only that, but it had long changed the chemical composition of the ambient air within the gym, making it completely clean and removing some of the oxygen content.

She explained while Hugo began to get tired.

“My training isn’t going to simply increase your strength. Having world class strength isn’t going to help you a significant amount within The Ascent. Instead, there are two factors that will drastically affect your performance. After all, The Ascent is centered around combat.

“The first factor is your ability to deliver maximum relative force with your body, regardless of your strength. This means you’ll need to learn how to move your body in precise yet explosive ways. But we can’t use explosive techniques until your body can handle such things, so we’ll need to train it up first.

“The second factor is your ability to react to and redirect the incoming forces that your potential opponents might send toward you. For example, a punch. You’ll need to not only learn how to defend against it, but use that movement against your opponent.”

“Sounds… complicated…”

Hugo spoke in between labored breaths. Although he knew countless technical concepts, this was a matter of feeling things with the body.

The Child shrugged.

“It is, which is why we’ll need the help of all the machines in this gym. However, what I’m going to teach you is an amalgamation of the world’s greatest martial arts techniques. I’ve compiled thousands of them, even ones dating back to ancient Chinese dynasties. Using those in conjunction with countless scientific studies on the human body and biomechanical estimations, and I now have the most perfect, lethal, and efficient martial arts technique ever built. It covers everything from footwork to grappling to striking and handling weapons.”

“And I can’t use any of it until I get stronger.”

“Correct. Give me two weeks of collecting data from you, and I’ll be able to determine how long it will take to begin teaching you this martial arts technique.”

The Child smiled, but as Hugo was already becoming dead tired from running so fast on the treadmill, the smile didn’t look so cute anymore.

But he was determined to push himself as far as he could. It was a matter of principle.

Hugo had pushed his mind to its very limits, allowing him to create a transcendent corporation the likes of which the world has never seen.

Now, it was time for him to push his body to its limits. He wasn’t expecting to become a superhuman, but there was no doubt in his mind that he could develop himself to an amazing degree far beyond the average human.

All it would take was mental fortitude.

With that in mind, Hugo strived to meet the Child’s expectations.

………

……

Two weeks pass, and by now, the Child has collected more than enough data.

Hugo trained himself every single day for 18 hours a day, something only possible thanks to the highest class Serums he was drowning himself in.

Each of those Serums had a different purpose. One was for energy gain, one was for longevity, others were for nutrients and protein, one was for protecting his body, while some were for recovery.

They were all specialized exactly according to Hugo’s body, and it worked wonders for him.

And he showed impressive drive. It was only the first week that Hugo struggled to do the training. Although he didn’t quit, he also couldn’t push his body to do certain things at different points of the day.

But come the second week, his body seemed to acclimate to the extreme training, and he was able to do 90% of the workouts. That number rose to 95% by the end of the second week.

The Child was especially observant. The tools within the gym allowed her to watch every development within Hugo’s body, seeing all the minute changes.

Countless chunks of data were collected from him and compiled, and come the third week, she finally presented a report.

“Give me 8 months of sheer training, and then I’ll be able to teach you the martial arts.”

“8 months? How crazy is this martial art you created?”

“Extremely.”

The Child spoke simply.

Hugo knew she wasn’t lying. That made it all the more interesting.

Although he wasn’t crazy strong, Hugo was still rather fit. His body was tough and he had good endurance, especially after these past two weeks.

But he had to train for 8 months to even start training the martial art?

It really was special.

Hugo shrugged.

“8 months it is then.”

“Good. Then lets get started. The previous two weeks was just a warm up.”

“Oh god…”

Despite Hugo’s strong mind, he couldn’t help but feel a bit of dread for the oncoming torture.