Chapter 705: God Gym Science
The next day, Paren woke up feeling strangely good.
For a moment, he simply lay there and stared at the ceiling above him.
The room was quiet, clean, spacious, and filled with soft recovery energy that continuously flowed through his body while he rested.
His muscles, which had been aching badly after yesterday’s strength tests, already felt far better than he had expected.
Paren slowly sat up and looked around the room with a complicated expression. "This is supposed to be a dormitory?"
The place looked absolutely nothing like any dormitory he knew.
It had a large and comfortable bed, a private bath, a recovery formation, a nutrition cabinet, automatic temperature control, energy-stabilizing walls, and even a wide window overlooking the distant training zones of [Divine Star Gym Planet No.1].
If Garion seriously called this place a dormitory, then half the luxury hotels inside the Astral Cosmic Terminal might as well shut down out of shame.
Paren rubbed his forehead. "Why not just call it a hotel?"
He thought about the question for another second before deciding that he honestly did not care enough to find out.
This was Garion’s faction.
Strange naming choices were probably just part of God Gym’s culture by now.
Once he had washed up and changed into the training clothes prepared for him by God Gym, Paren left the room and headed toward the [Divine Training Hall].
The corridor outside looked like some strange mixture of advanced magic and futuristic technology.
Silver-white walls glowed softly with intricate runes. Floating panels drifted silently through the air, directing customers toward different facilities and training areas.
Mechanical doors opened without making a sound, while formation lines hidden beneath the floor constantly adjusted gravity, temperature, and surrounding energy flow according to whoever passed through.
Paren had seen plenty of advanced facilities before.
He was, after all, the manager of a cosmic terminal belonging to a High Grade World.
Yet somehow, God Gym still felt... better.
Not necessarily more elegant or refined, but everything here seemed specifically designed to make training, recovery, and cultivation as efficient as possible.
Paren’s footsteps gradually slowed when the enormous entrance of the [Divine Training Hall] came into view.
The moment he stepped inside, his expression stiffened.
His gaze immediately landed on the familiar rows of horrifying training machines he had suffered through yesterday.
Only yesterday had merely been a test.
Today was different.
Today was the beginning of his actual training.
That realization alone was already unpleasant enough.
Even worse, Garion himself would be acting as his personal trainer.
From everything Paren had heard over the years, Garion’s personal training methods could only be described as brutally effective.
The man somehow treated extreme pain, exhaustion, and near-death experiences as perfectly reasonable parts of improving someone’s body.
Paren stared silently at the training equipment for several seconds.
One uneasy thought slowly crossed his mind.
"I’m not going to die here... right?"
---
Garion spotted Paren standing at the entrance of the [Divine Training Hall] and immediately waved him over. "Good. You’re here."
Paren walked inside with a cautious expression, his eyes drifting across the rows of terrifying divine gym equipment waiting for him.
Garion clapped his hands once. "Alright, let’s begin today’s training."
Paren’s body stiffened slightly. "Already?"
Garion nodded as though the answer were obvious. "Of course. But before that, drink this."
He casually pulled a black-purple bottle from seemingly nowhere and tossed it over.
Paren caught the bottle with one hand and looked down at the label.
[Star Creatine Pro Max]
His brow immediately twitched. "What is this?"
Garion’s entire demeanor suddenly became strangely professional. "A supplement."
Paren frowned harder. "That does not answer my question."
Garion sighed, looking as though Paren were making something simple unnecessarily difficult.
"Creatine helps your muscles produce strength faster, recover better, and handle repeated explosive effort. It’s useful for increasing power, improving training volume, and building muscle."
Paren lowered his gaze toward the bottle again.
Garion continued, "This is God Gym’s special Star Realm version, so unlike normal creatine, it can actually produce a meaningful effect on someone at your cultivation level."
That explanation sounded reasonable enough.
Unfortunately, Paren’s eyes soon moved toward the final two words written on the label. "And what does ’Pro Max’ mean?"
Garion’s expression instantly became shameless again. "Basically, it means this is the best version."
Paren gave him a flat look.
Garion confidently continued, "Best quality, best absorption, best effect. Basically, you get the maximum possible benefit."
Paren stared at him for several seconds. "Why do I suddenly feel like you’re trying to sell me something suspicious?"
"Because you have good instincts." Garion gave him an approving thumbs-up. "Now drink."
Paren’s suspicion did not disappear in the slightest.
Nonetheless, he eventually twisted open the bottle and cautiously brought it to his lips.
He took one careful sip.
A second later, his entire expression changed.
Paren’s eyes widened violently.
His throat seemed to lock up, his face twisted in horror, and his hand immediately jerked away as though his first instinct was to throw the bottle across the training hall.
Garion reacted faster.
He appeared directly in front of Paren, caught his wrist with one hand, and used the other to clamp his mouth shut before he could spit anything out. "Drink it all."
Paren’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.
"MMPH?!"
Garion tilted the bottle higher with absolutely no mercy. "Don’t waste it. This stuff is expensive."
Paren struggled for several seconds, but Garion’s grip was fucking ridiculous.
There was no escaping.
In the end, he could only suffer as Garion forced him to swallow every last drop.
Once the bottle was completely empty, Garion finally released him.
Paren staggered backward and immediately began coughing.
"COUGH! COUGH! What the hell was that taste?!"
His face had nearly turned green.
Paren had lived long enough that ordinary food was no longer particularly important to him.
Star Realm beings could survive perfectly well without obsessing over taste, and he had swallowed countless unpleasant medicines and supplements throughout his life.
Yet this...
Paren pointed at the empty bottle with a trembling finger.
"As Star Realm beings, we don’t really care much about taste anymore, but this..." His face twisted again just from remembering it. "This tastes like shit mixed with melted metal and rotting herbs!"
Garion burst out laughing. "Hahaha! Damn, that’s actually a pretty good description."
Paren glared at him with genuine fury. "Why the hell does it taste like that?!"
Garion spread both hands with absolute confidence. "God Gym special rule."
Paren’s expression darkened further. "What rule?"
Garion raised one finger as though he were about to reveal some profound cultivation principle. "The worse it tastes, the better the effect."
Paren stared at him in disbelief. "That is not science."
Garion laughed and slapped him lightly on the shoulder. "It’s God Gym science."
Paren frowned. "That sounds illegal."
Garion let out an amused chuckle and casually took the empty bottle from his hand. "Only if you complain to the wrong department."