The rooftop apartment

The building Odin rented in was only seven stories tall. Its exterior paint was a little mottled, but overall, it was fairly clean.

It stood on the outskirts of the city. The area was neither bustling nor remote, and daily necessities were readily available.

He lived on the top floor, drawn by the spacious rooftop terrace.

The landlord was willing to rent out the rooftop along with the apartment, which was one of his main reasons for choosing this place.

The apartment was small: one bedroom, a living room, and a bathroom. The layout was simple, with only the most basic furnishings-a bed, a table, chairs, and an empty wardrobe.

The walls were plain white, with fine cracks in places, but everything had been cleaned thoroughly.

He first walked over to the window and pushed it open.

Cool air poured in, carrying the city's distinctive scent, mingled with the smells of its nightlife.

He had gone shopping but brought nothing back because he had bought too much. He would have to wait for the stores to deliver it tomorrow.

Beyond the uneven rooftops below, the iconic tower of Heavens Arena still stood out in the distance, ablaze with lights.

"Time for bed," Odin muttered. He shut the window, took a shower, and crawled under the covers, soon drifting off to sleep.

The next day, he received a call from the store. Not long afterward, his rented apartment's living room was almost completely filled.

There was all sorts of basic fitness equipment: adjustable dumbbells, a pair of heavy kettlebells, a thick jump rope, a set of ab rollers for core training, a sturdy folding exercise mat, and various weighted accessories.

"Tsk. I wasn't even this motivated after getting a gym membership in my previous life." He chuckled at himself as he unpacked everything.

After putting away the exercise equipment, Odin went out for something to eat, then made another trip to the bookstore.

When he returned, he carried a huge stack of books covering all sorts of subjects.

"Human anatomy and biomechanics," "Advanced physics: mechanics," "Energy metabolism and nutrition," "An overview of the world's fighting styles," "Physical recovery in extreme environments"...

All kinds of books, a whole jumble of them-anything he thought might be useful, he bought.

Money was no object.

He sorted the books by category and stuffed them onto the bookshelf. Looking at the packed shelves, he realized he hadn't owned this many books even when he was a student.

"All right, that's everything." Odin clapped his hands, thoroughly pleased with the living room before him.

And so his training life began.

Every morning, when the first pale light touched the horizon and the city had yet to fully awaken, Odin was already on the rooftop.

He changed into lightweight sportswear, strapped on some of the weights he had bought, and began with the most basic endurance running.

Of course, he wasn't running through the streets. He ran laps around the rooftop.

The rooftop wasn't large, so he had to keep turning, which demanded greater control and a better sense of rhythm.

He felt his muscles ache and his breathing grow increasingly labored, continuing until sweat soaked his clothes.

"Phew... This body's foundation is definitely a lot stronger than when I first arrived, but it's still nowhere near enough." Odin braced his hands on his knees and panted, watching the sun slowly rise in the distance.

After the run came strength training.

The dumbbells and kettlebells became his best companions.

Bench presses, squats, deadlifts-he repeated these basic but effective movements with unwavering focus, striving for proper form every time he exerted himself.

He kept comparing his movements against the principles of muscular force production he had read about, making constant adjustments to his posture to ensure every bit of strength went where it mattered.

"The angle was a little off." He put down the dumbbells, picked up the water bottle beside him, and shakily gulped down a few mouthfuls.

Naturally, the water bottle was another piece of weighted equipment. He had borrowed the Zoldyck Family's method of training their butlers with weights, incorporating them into every aspect of daily life.

Odin reserved most of his afternoons for studying and experimentation.

He studied physics and martial arts.

With his thinking accelerated by the Rabbit Talisman, he read quickly. In fact, his accelerated mind allowed him to understand things far faster than an ordinary person.

Words and diagrams seemed to imprint themselves directly on his mind. He rapidly absorbed and memorized mechanical formulas, human anatomy, and the principles of energy conversion.

If he'd had a cheat like this in his previous life, getting into a top-tier university would have been nothing. He probably could have taken his pick of any school.

"Good. The physics of this world aren't much different from Earth's. Speed is essentially displacement per unit of time. According to the kinetic energy formula, E = 1/2mv², if my body weight stays constant and my speed doubles, the kinetic energy I carry will be four times what it was."

Odin nodded as he looked at his fist. "Speed is power."

He closed the book and walked into the relatively open center of the living room.

Closing his eyes, Odin recalled the various opponents he had faced at Heavens Arena over the past few days.

He recalled their attack patterns and how they generated force, especially Kafura's nearly flawless defensive stance.

His feet shifted slightly, and his body left an afterimage as he instantly appeared at the other end of the room, throwing a punch into the air.

To an ordinary person, the movement would have been as fast as lightning. To Odin's own senses, however, it felt perfectly normal.

"No. The force isn't flowing smoothly enough. My waist rotation is lagging a little." He stopped, frowned slightly, and tried again.

Once, twice, ten times...

Odin kept repeating simple jabs, side kicks, and evasive movements.

He wanted to combine the mechanics he learned from books with his own sense of movement, eliminating unnecessary motions and refining how he generated force.

He wasn't pursuing greater speed, but greater precision, efficiency, and economy of effort.

As Odin understood it, fighting was ultimately nothing more than an efficient application of human biomechanics.

Both speed and strength required technique to control them.

The greatest effect with the least expenditure.

Of course, Odin didn't neglect practicing with the Rabbit Talisman.

After dinner, he would go up to the rooftop, measure his speed, and divide it into different levels.

Since his stamina wasn't sufficient to keep him operating at full speed around the clock, fighting at an appropriate speed was the best approach. It would consume less energy.

He had already started moving in that direction during his matches at Heavens Arena. Now, he simply wanted to make it more precise.

Training, studying, experimenting, resting, and eating to replenish himself.

Odin's life became extraordinarily regimented, even somewhat monotonous.

But he enjoyed every moment, just like someone who had found a hobby he truly loved, pouring himself into it without counting the time or cost.

Every bout of muscle soreness, every tiny improvement in how he exerted force, and every refinement in his control over the Rabbit Talisman gave him a tangible sense of progress.

The feeling of growing stronger little by little through his own efforts was far more reassuring than simply relying on a cheat.

He sat down at the edge of the rooftop and sighed as he watched the lights gradually come on along the streets below.

Time flew, and two months passed in the blink of an eye.

It was the same rooftop and the same person, yet now there were dozens of him.

A minute later, Odin stopped using Afterimage Fist and stood quietly in the center of the rooftop.

Only after another five seconds did the afterimages left by Afterimage Fist slowly fade away.

Yes, Odin's Afterimage Fist had reached an unprecedented level.

His base speed was faster than before, which brought a qualitative leap in his speed when boosted by the Rabbit Talisman.

Of course, much of it came from the familiarity and refinements he had developed with Afterimage Fist over those two months.

Beyond the improvements in speed and technique, what delighted Odin even more was that, after two months of weighted training, his strength had already caught up to Gon's when Gon pushed open the Zoldyck Family's gate in the original story.

Clearly, Odin's physical potential was far from poor.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

He then picked up the phone he had left nearby and deftly opened the Hunter Association Official Website.

Seeing that registration was open, he wasted no time filling in his personal information and signing up.

This exam coincided exactly with the beginning of the original story: the 287th Hunter Exam.

"Done." Odin grinned at the registration confirmation on the screen.

There was still some time before the exam began, but he didn't plan to continue intensive training during that period. He needed to relax a little.

Besides, he had no intention of taking off the various weighted accessories he wore in daily life.

Setting down his phone, Odin turned his calm gaze toward the distant tower.