One Day at One Percent
Morning came quietly as usual. That alone already felt strange. Ruko woke before the sun, not because of a nightmare this time, but because his body told him to. No panic, no pressure in his chest— just awareness some how.
The room was still, the mansion unusually peaceful, as if even the dust had decided to behave for once. He sat up on the edge of the bed and breathed. Slow in. Slow out.
One percent, he thought. That's all.
Yet his body felt… aligned. Not stronger. Not faster. Just immensely cleaner, like every movement of hos body had less waste. He stood, stretched, and went straight into his routine.
Burpees first. The floor creaked with each landing, but his posture stayed perfect. Push-ups followed, elbows tight, core steady. Sit-ups, squats, lunges—each motion deliberate, almost meditative. Sweat formed, muscles burned, lungs worked, but there was no frustration in it.
No desperation. Just working out the stress. When he finished, he wiped his face and closed his eyes. "Simulation Space." The world folded. White light expanded outward, forming a limitless plane beneath his feet. Gravity felt normal. The air resisted his movements just enough to feel real.
When he clenched his fist, the knuckles responded exactly as they should. Ruko tested a punch. The impact echoed faintly, but his hand didn't hurt. He smiled—not smug, not proud. Just satisfied.
"So this is where I get better without breaking myself," he muttered. He moved. Footwork first. Simple steps, pivots, balance shifts. Then strikes. No flashy techniques, no special skills—just clean fundamentals.
He imagined Beldia's blade, the weight of it, the pressure of fighting something that would kill him if given the chance. His expression stayed calm. "You rush, you die," he said aloud. "You panic, you die. You hesitate… you still die."
He corrected his stance. "Which means you don't rush, panic, or hesitate and i'll keep killing you." Hours passed inside the Simulation Space, but when he exited, the sun had barely moved. Same time flow.
"Good," he said quietly. "Very good."
His stomach growled. Back in the real world, Ruko ate simply—bread, soup, water. Aqua was still asleep. Megumin muttered in her room, probably dreaming about explosions. Darkness was nowhere to be found, which usually meant she was either training or doing something extremely questionable.
Kazuma was gone, already deep in dungeon misery or something. Ruko sat on the mansion steps after breakfast, letting the warmth of the sun hit his face.
That was when the PhoneCyclopedia vibrated. With no loudly sound, no dramatically, just vibrate enough.
He summoned it into his hand. The device felt warm now, responsive. The screen lit up smoothly.
[Daily Mission Available
Objective: Complete a controlled physical training cycle
Time Limit: 24 hours
Failure Penalty: —
(Penalty information hidden)]
Ruko stared at the screen for a few seconds. "…You really didn't have to threaten me since i started you yesterday," he said flatly. He accepted.
The screen shifted, briefly flashing something that looked like a status window—numbers, categories, symbols—but the moment he tried to focus, it blurred.
"What the—Locked," he murmured. "Figures." He explored the rest. Apps, Music, Games, Videos. Things that felt wildly out of place in a fantasy world. He tested the earbuds next, summoning them and placing one in his ear.
Instantly, sound expanded. It didn't seem not to be louder—wider. He could hear Aqua snoring upstairs. Megumin shifting in bed. The wind brushing the trees outside. Even distant footsteps from Axel's streets.
"Five hundred meters…" he said. "Well it did say it can reach 500 meter radius. Wait ..that's not creepy at all, right ...RIGHT." He removed the earbud.
"Rule number one," he said quietly to himself. "Just because you can listen… doesn't mean you should." He'd learned that lesson before. Power without restraint ruined people faster than weakness ever did. Later that day, he trained again. Simulation Space. Real world. Back and forth for three days.
When fatigue crept in—not physical, but mental—he stopped. "Pushing past your limit doesn't make you brave," he said, sitting on the floor. "It makes you stupid if try. That's why people call muscles bird for brains. " He rested.
That evening, Aqua finally emerged, complaining loudly about how unfair it was that Kazuma got paid and she didn't. Megumin followed, stretching dramatically and declaring she felt inspired. Darkness nodded approvingly at the state of Ruko's training equipment, as if she could tell he'd been suffering correctly.
"You look… steadier than before hehehe," Darkness observed. Ruko shrugged. "I stopped training myself for now since i keep this up i'll be in serious issues." She blinked, then smiled faintly. "That's… surprisingly wise." Aqua scoffed. "Ugh, why do you two always talk like old people?"
Ruko looked at her. Calm. Neutral.
"Aqua," he said, "if you trip because you're running your mouth, that's gravity's fault. If you trip because you didn't look where you were going, that's yours statement of treating yourself." She stared.
"…I don't like when you make sense." "Well someone else have to talk the trash out wont we. And beside I'm not criticizing you for nothing so don't turn that to stupidity." Aqua felt no remorse to answer.
That night, alone again, Ruko lay on his bed staring at the ceiling. The nightmares didn't come. Instead, memories surfaced—Kazuma's words, the fear in Axel during Beldia's attack, the way people had looked at him afterward. No hatred, no praise, just expectation of what he'll do next.
That was heavier. He summoned the PhoneCyclopedia one last time before sleep, scrolling until he found the locked World Travel tab.
[World 1 to World 20.]
"Later," he said softly. "I'm not ready for looking what it yet is." As the screen dimmed and vanished, Ruko closed his eyes. Tomorrow, he'd train again. Not to become a hero. Not to become a monster. Just being someone who wouldn't break when the world leaned on him.