Chapter 261: Set A Pace

Kalli was wrong.

Five times gravity was not a good start, as the new arrivals were far behind the rest of the group in pure physicality. They had started out well ahead of most, as evidenced by the bulk of their muscles.

But without the daily training quest, they weren’t getting the same level of gains after gaining the System.

They had been working out, that much was clear. But the difference between building strength with the System alone and building it with bonus points every day were night and day.

The locals of Marimgar were at least fifty percent ahead of the Rossi Family members, and that was clear the moment that Kalli cranked up the gravity in the training room.

"It’s a change, right? I like to do some light backpack weighted running. We’ve got packs made from the tuber plants that can hold up to the weight. Or you can do a standard training routine.

However, you cannot rest between sets for more than fifty seconds. If you rest for a full minute, you will reset the timer, and you won’t get the quest reward for sixty full minutes of extreme exertion.

There is a bonus for ninety, so that’s what most of us do.

It’s all up to you how you choose to do it," she explained.

Vinnie nodded. "Do the bonuses depend on what we do? Is there a most effective way?"

That was the right question.

"You can get more strength by doing exclusively weight training. However, running with a weight will give you strength, stamina and agility. More total bonus than pure weight days.

For front-line warriors, I would recommend adding in some pure weight training days.

For the others, balanced is best.

If you have a warrior class, you can get strength faster than the mages or the Rogues. So, there are advantages to doing dedicated weight training.

There are no actual diminishing returns, but gaining the same amount of strength every day means much less when you have much more. So, focus on what you’re lacking, for a well-balanced physique."

"If you just want to follow me, that’s good enough for the first day, so you can get an idea of how to do the balanced routine. It’s actually really easy. Just grab the bag, put a plate or two in it to increase exertion to a level where you don’t need to overload the treadmill speed settings to get a workout, and jog for an hour and a half."

Kalli placed two metal plates in a bag and slung it onto her back, causing the Rossi soldiers to give her an impressed look.

Then, they picked up one of the plates, and the increased gravity really hit them.

"Right, five times gravity," Vinnie muttered.

"Exactly. So, you don’t need to overload the bars. Each of those plates is a hundred kilos, not twenty, when the gravity is at this level. I use two hundred kilos for training so that I know that I can grab a wounded fighter and carry them to safety.

All you are strapping young lads, so you should be able to do better."

Vinnie laughed, as most of his men were actually in their thirties and forties. Strapping, yes. Young lads? Not so much.

The men of the Rossi Family simply followed Kalli’s lead, and put a hundred kilos in the bag, then decided to add another hundred. They could do a hundred kilos in a pack before they were buffed by the System.

Then, they all went to the treadmills, and Kalli turned on a motivational video. The streets of old Marimgar in the morning.

It was a basic for treadmills, and the running pace could be linked to one of the machines, or the image could be split, so everyone got their own view, with the runners on the other treadmills showing up on the course as they jogged.

That let you compete if you wanted, or ignore the big screen and watch one of the many movies that Marimgar’s servers had saved from the Library.

"There are earbuds at the back of the room, if you want to listen to music. The storage cases sanitize them between use," Kalli offered.

"I think we’ll skip them today. Ninety minutes at high heart rate should be fine for most. But some of the boys have had a lot of years of rich foods and wine."

Kalli laughed. "There are healers in the room if you’d like to get them to do some preventative maintenance. A full healing spell will clear clogged arteries and drop cholesterol levels to safe ranges. Only the dad bod can’t be cured with simple magic these days."

None of them had known that.

In fact, Kalli only had because people were getting checkups at the medical bays in the city, and everyone’s numbers were nearly perfect if they had been injured in the past weeks and healed.

The group laughed at the joke about dad bods, and then a handful of women walked into the room from the changing area with Yara behind them.

"I thought that I’d bring the ladies to train with dad. Not wanting to embarrass himself in front of them will make him work harder," Yara declared.

Kalli laughed. "I think that they’d have worked hard enough just trying not to get shown up by me, but we’ve got plenty of gear in the room. Pack a bag, ladies, and come for a run. You’ll feel the gains after just one day."

Vinnie sighed. These women would be the death of him. It was good that his daughter made a real friend, but did he have to be the butt of all their jokes?

However, the men did seem more motivated now that the ladies were here, and eagerly joined in when Kalli started the jog.

"Remember, the goal is to keep your heart rate above 135 for ninety minutes straight. You can let it drop for a short time, but not more than a whole minute. So, just set a pace that you can keep for at least an hour, no need to race.

I go for a nine percent grade and eight kilometres an hour, with some comfortable weights in your hands to build arm strength."