I Can Program My Body?
Chapter 104: Waking Leo

Chapter 104: Waking Leo

The next day, Nash woke up full of energy.

Feeling refreshed, he quickly began his daily training.

However, instead of six hours like before, he cut it down to just two.

With dark potions and more merits on hand, Nash planned to focus his efforts in the Dark Plane.

As for completely removing his daily training, Nash couldn’t do it.

It wasn’t just a way to get used to his growing strength and study in the runic space, it was also an important routine that kept him acclimated in reality.

Spending most of his time either in the Virtual World or the Dark Plane, Nash would lose touch with the real world without this habit.

---

Two hours later, after working up a sweat, Nash passed by the training facility to check on the kids.

"Captain Nash, you’re here," Hector greeted.

"How are the kids? Still training?"

"Yes. In fact, they’re overtraining. Especially Leo, that kid is a monster. Captain, please say something to him. If he doesn’t stop this madness, he might break."

"Oh? What happened to him?"

"Since training started, most of the students have taken one or two breaks. But Leo hasn’t stopped for even a second. And while the others took numbing medicine, that kid took the pain head-on like it was nothing."

"Hiss... what a ruthless kid."

Hearing his story, Nash was not too surprised. It seemed Leo had been stirred up by Charlotte and Elijah.

After seeing how much stronger they had become, Leo should have chosen the ruthless path to catch up.

Even Nash, back when he first saw Camilla’s sudden leap in power, had felt a little fired up.

But thanks to his unshakable confidence, Nash never went as crazy as Leo.

"Don’t worry, I’ll talk to that kid."

Seeing the worry on Hector’s face, Nash made his way into Leo’s training room.

"Huh? Why are you here, Chancellor Nash?" Leo muttered dazedly, struggling to hold down the pain.

"You don’t need to call me Chancellor. Just call me Brother Nash like Charlotte and Elijah do."

"Hmm... I’ll remember."

"Stop training for a second. I have something to talk to you about."

"No, I can’t stop... I have to catch up..."

"How strong were Charlotte and Elijah the last time you saw them?"

Seeing that he couldn’t stop Leo by force, Nash sat down, planning to talk him down.

"They... they were already peak Void Warriors the last time I saw them," Leo said, feeling a pain deeper than anything his body was going through.

Back in the training camp, the three of them were the best of friends.

Although Charlotte and Elijah were more talented, Leo wasn’t far behind and could keep up.

Seeing them leap far beyond his reach hit him hard.

He was happy for them, but also felt something break inside.

Their friendship, once equal and natural, now felt distant.

Even if they didn’t abandon him, what kind of friendship could they still have?

One built on pity? On memories? On comfort?

Not wanting such a humiliating outcome, Leo pushed himself past reason, training desperately just to get a glimpse of light ahead.

Meanwhile, hearing the two had already reached peak Void Warrior, Nash could only click his tongue.

"It’s good to have a background, huh..."

With the Nova Military Academy behind them, leaping in strength like a rocket wasn’t surprising.

"It seems Brother Nash understands. If I want to catch up, I can only suffer more pain than they did," Leo said resolutely.

"Do you really think you can catch up like this?" Nash asked, popping his little bubble of reality.

"This—"

Leo froze as the weight of Nash’s words slammed him into reality.

Indeed, no matter how crazy he trained, how could he catch up to those geniuses who worked just as hard and had more resources than he did?

Even if he endured ten times, a hundred times, or a thousand times more pain, could he really catch up?

"You don’t need to feel down. What I’m telling you is, your method of catching up is wrong."

"Do you know what to do, Brother Nash?" Leo asked, tearing up—not from the pain, but from finally seeing hope.

"Stop for now. If you keep pushing through the pain, you might not even remember what I’m about to say."

"Hmm..."

Convinced, Leo stopped his madness, as a wave of relief washed over his body.

Feeling his eyelids getting heavier and his body on the verge of collapse, Leo forced himself to stay upright.

"Please tell me, Brother Nash."

"To catch up to cheaters... you also need to cheat."

"Cheat? What cheat?"

"I mean, since they have rich resources, then we should get our own."

"How? Do we rob the Earth Horizon Alliance?" Leo asked in confusion.

Smacking his forehead, Nash nearly burst out laughing.

"No! How could you even think of that?"

"Then what is it?"

"It’s in the Dark Plane, the greatest equalizer for warriors willing to risk everything."

In the Dark Plane, even if one was poor, untalented, or even disabled. As long as they had a fearless heart and were willing to bet everything with their life, they could achieve anything.

Of course, countless people had died proving this very point.

"The Dark Plane... is that where we’ll be going next?"

"Yes. In that place, your saturation rate doesn’t matter as much as your raw fighting ability. As long as you can kill, you can grow stronger!"

"Huh? Really?!"

Feeling a surge of excitement, Leo immediately wanted to dive into such a paradise.

"Not so fast. Let’s wait until you at least have some self-protection ability."

"Hmm..."

"That’s good. Now take a rest. I’ll send you information about the Dark Plane later—"

Just as Nash finished speaking, Leo slumped to the ground, drained now that the adrenaline keeping him awake had worn off.

"Hah... Kid. Rest up. How can you grow without sleeping?"

Returning to his residence, he drank one of the dark potions.

With an extra 4 hours cut from his daily training, he could stay in the Dark Plane for a total of 12 hours.

Replenishing the empty vials in the basic virtual pod, he dove into the Dark Plane.