Ethan was taking double what was a pretty decent lift for an untitled as his baseline. Since it worked out for his squat, he did the same for the remaining exercises.

Next on the list was Bench Press.

He loaded the bar again, glancing down at the plates.

’400 pounds... about 180 kilograms. That should be about right.’

"Alright... steady," he whispered.

He lay back, gripping the bar firmly before unracking it.

The moment the weight settled above him, his arms trembled, just slightly, before stabilising.

"Okay... okay..."

He lowered it to his chest.

The bar touched down, heavy but controlled.

Ethan felt a tinge of pain in his left shoulder, but he endured and pushed as hard as he could. His arms extended, chest and triceps firing as the bar rose steadily.

It wasn’t exactly explosive, but the weight was going up.

"No way," he breathed, locking out his arms.

He racked it and sat up, staring at his hands as if they belonged to someone else.

"I’m fucking yoked."

It wasn’t easy, but it was doable.

With a Strength stat of 20, he knew he should be capable of this, but feeling it like this made it feel real. It put into perspective that he was a literal superhuman, and this was without even using his skills.

Last was deadlift.

It was the lift that he had never done and wasn’t looking forward to either, after seeing many videos of people hurting themselves on it. Not that he let that stop him.

’Worst comes to worst, I’d recover quicker than normal people.’

He loaded the bar heavier this time, glancing down at the longer deadlift bar.

’Nearly 700 pounds... that’s like 320 kilograms.’

He let out a quiet breath.

"This is the one that humbles people."

He bent down, gripping the bar tightly.

"Don’t snap your spine, okay?"

Ethan braced himself, getting a good grip on the bar before pulling it with everything he had.

At first, nothing happened, and Elara even let out a small laugh.

Then, the bar slowly broke off the ground.

Every muscle in his body engaged: legs driving, back tightening, arms locking in place as he dragged the weight upward.

His breath hitched, and his grip tightened.

Then he finally stood upright, fully locked out.

"I’m that guy," he said to his red-eyed companion, who was recording him.

Though after starting to feel lightheaded, he suddenly released the bar, letting it fall onto the ground with a heavy thud that echoed in the giant room.

Ethan stepped back, wiping sweat from his forehead, chest rising and falling steadily.

"I could easily outlift Mark now," he muttered, half-amused, half-stunned.

That thought alone felt surreal, since his friend had always been the strong one. The man was practically a freak of nature, and could probably take on an E Rank as he was.

’And I’m only just getting started.’

Ethan still had a long way to go, and he could only imagine what his stats would look like in the coming months. Meanwhile, Elara zoned out again and had been following him around, but wasn’t interested in his lifts.

Seeing that he was done, she took out her phone.

"I want to leave."

Some people were still staring, making her uncomfortable.

"And I want to try out my abilities.’

Ethan glanced at her and nodded, knowing full well the feeling of wanting to test out what they were capable of.

"Yeah, that’s probably more useful than me pretending to be a powerlifter."

As such, the duo made their way to one of the free private training rooms.

Elara scanned her card to gain access before they both stepped inside.

It was quite large, around 400 square metres. One couldn’t exactly run around it, but there was enough space to experiment.

She moved to the centre, staring at her hands.

That red crackling energy still lingered in her body; she just needed to figure out how to wield it at will.

Ethan leaned against the wall, crossing his arms.

"Alright," he said, more serious now. "When I use mana, it’s... instinctive. Like breathing."

She nodded, listening attentively.

"So don’t overthink it," he continued. "Close your eyes. Feel it. Let it flow and trust your gut, just like you did earlier."

It was ironic that the E Rank was teaching the A Rank, going off their registered ranks. But she appreciated his guidance and did as he suggested, closing her eyes.

She stood there focusing internally for minutes, but she couldn’t feel anything.

’Maybe I was just imagining things, and it was just a one-time thing.’

Still, she persisted, and eventually, she felt a faint flicker and latched onto it. Once she did, red energy began dancing across her fingertips.

Her brow furrowed while Ethan watched closely.

"Good," he said. "Now push it forward. Like you’re throwing it."

She inhaled slowly, then thrust her hand forward.

A weak burst of red energy flickered out, but it fizzled out before reaching the wall across from her.

She opened her eyes, frustrated. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"Just try again," Ethan encouraged.

Honestly, he was impressed that she had already managed to do that on her first try.

"Let’s just repeat the attack you’ve already done. A punch should be simpler than a ranged attack."

Elara nodded, going closer to the wall so she could visualise what she was hitting. But she just ended up punching the wall and hurting her hand.

Ethan suppressed a laugh, giving her some words of encouragement instead.

She tried again and again, each time failing to replicate the attack she had performed on the Bulldozer. That was until what felt like her hundredth attempt...

Elara clenched her bloodied fist and focused before punching forward.

Boom!

A sharp burst of red energy slammed into the reinforced wall.

Both of them froze.

"That was it!" Ethan exclaimed, much more excited than he had been after his impressive lifts.

Elara blinked, staring at her hand.

*I really did that,* she signed with blood dripping from her knuckles.

"Yeah," he said with a small grin. "You did."

It reminded him greatly of Beast Impact and even gave him the idea of a name for it.

’Crimson Impact... It’s perfect.’

His mind was running wild, thinking back to what the demon was capable of in her body. If she could do that while conscious, she would be an invaluable ally.

"Alright," Ethan said, pushing off the wall. "Now let’s try something bigger. Like the energy beam we tried at first."

She nodded eagerly.

But it seemed as though they were getting a little ahead of themselves, and let’s just say the demon inside her wasn’t taking too kindly to it...