0118 An Anomaly in the Swimming Pool
“Huff—”
“Not bad! The weighted training wasn’t for nothing!”
Chen Jue watched the three small points of experience pop up on the panel and finally felt much more balanced mentally.
In truth, the idea to add weight to his body was a sudden impulse of his own making.
The professional exercise plan tailored by Coach Li Rui didn’t include any of this.
The reason Chen Jue thought to add weighted gear was because he recalled watching anime as a child—seeing those characters training their bodies or practicing energy techniques gradually adding weights to themselves, then shedding them to unleash incredible power and style. Caught in a moment of youthful enthusiasm, he decided to throw some extra intensity into his regimen.
After all, now that he had a status panel, if he didn’t push himself a bit, he’d be letting down all the other “cheaters” out there.
He never expected the results of adding weight to be so explosive!
Just a slow jog as a warm-up yielded three small attribute points—an efficiency almost rivaling a full “Break the Limit” workout.
But after running 2.5 kilometers with the weight, Chen Jue definitely felt tired, especially his legs and feet, the soreness almost as intense as running twenty laps around a track.
“I should’ve taken a pre-workout boost first,” Chen Jue grumbled inwardly as he entered the indoor swimming pool and settled into a massage chair. He scanned ten yuan to start the massage and took some supplements he’d brought along.
When the temporary effects of the pre-workout began to kick in, Chen Jue immediately allocated all three accumulated free attribute points to Constitution, which helped relieve the soreness and stiffness from the weighted run.
His stamina began to recover, and his tight muscles softened, regaining strength.
He asked at the front desk about swimming fees. Jiang University students and staff could enter at half price with ID, but outsiders had to pay full fare.
Although Chen Jue was an auditing student, he couldn’t enjoy the full-time student benefits and had to pay the full price. Reluctantly, he spent 4,000 yuan on an annual swimming card.
According to Coach Li Rui’s training schedule, Chen Jue needed to swim about once every three days, so an annual pass was more economical.
Before, earning just over ten thousand a month, with most of it going to food, drink, and rent, he wouldn’t have dared to splurge on such memberships.
It was only now, riding the wave of his popular “Skill Guy” online persona, earning tens of thousands per video, that he could afford such expenses.
More importantly, without a nine-to-five job, he had plenty of free time to make full use of these memberships.
If he were still working full-time, he’d probably only use the card once or twice before it gathered dust—a nightmare scenario gyms and pools hate.
***
After getting his card, Chen Jue entered the locker room. Since it was December and winter had set in, the heating was strong inside.
He expected the cold weather would keep most swimmers away, but upon entering, he saw quite a few students and outsiders preparing to swim.
“Hangzhou really has no shortage of wealthy and leisurely people.”
“Don’t people have to work Monday afternoons?” Chen Jue muttered, setting his password locker and slowly undressing.
He was wearing a winter tracksuit: just a jacket over a black weighted vest.
As he took off the jacket, the black weighted vest caught the attention of several people changing nearby.
Who in their right mind would wear such gear out?
And it wasn’t just the vest—he also had weighted bands on his wrists and calves. Tossing them into the locker caused a loud “thud, thud,” shaking an entire row of lockers and leaving those visitors dumbfounded.
***
“Holy crap!”
“People still wear weights these days?”
“What kind of legend is this?” whispered some visitors.
When Chen Jue pulled off his tight compression shirt, revealing a chiseled upper body, the whispers abruptly stopped.
What could they say?
He was too handsome.
Eight-pack abs, defined obliques, a narrow waist, and a devilish back—any man would drool with envy.
Thanks to intense training, he lowered his body fat and sculpted his muscles naturally. His upper body was sharply contoured, especially the inverted triangle formed by his waist, abs, chest, back, and shoulders—like a Renaissance sculpture come to life.
Without the weights, he felt light and free, his muscles relaxed yet springy.
After taking the pre-workout supplements, his body entered an excited state; every muscle seemed inflated, full and powerful, bulging prominently. A slight exertion caused the muscles to stretch and flex.
Though his physique wasn’t as exaggerated as a steroid-enhanced bodybuilder, in the realm of natural fitness, Chen Jue’s form was top-tier.
Few ordinary people could achieve this level without years in the gym.
After changing into swim trunks, he checked himself in the locker room’s full-length mirror and smiled with satisfaction.
He hadn’t realized his physique had advanced this far—like a character stepping out of a comic book.
During daily training, he hadn’t paid much attention to his body’s changes, only knowing his fat was dropping and muscle mass increasing.
His apartment bathroom only had a small mirror for his face, so this was the first time he could truly assess his full muscular development.
“A bit over the top…”
“Fitness really does refine one’s aura and appearance,” Chen Jue admired himself, running a hand over his newly grown hair.
His only weak point now was his lower body—still lacking in muscle mass. He needed more quality protein to build it up.
***
Amid admiring glances from men of all ages, Chen Jue donned a swimming cap and goggles, rinsed off in the shower to acclimate to the water temperature, then strolled out of the locker room.
The indoor swimming center was vast, with several pools: two public short pools—one shallow 1.25-meter pool for minors, and one 1.8-meter deep, eight-lane adult pool.
There was also a five-meter deep diving pool, a three-meter deep synchronized swimming pool, and a two-meter deep competition pool for races.
Chen Jue circled the venue, spotting many Jiang University swim team members training in the racing pool, so he first settled into the public adult pool.
Growing up in the countryside near Wen City, he spent summers swimming in ponds and reservoirs, even at the seaside. Through countless bouts of swallowing water, he taught himself a rough swimming technique and was competent enough to survive in water.
He began by gripping the lane rope, doing a few breath-holding dives until the water covered his head, adjusting to underwater pressure and buoyancy.
Then he started swimming slowly along the lane.
Unexpectedly, after just a few meters, a notification popped up on his panel:
——————
【Ding~】
【Completed a qualifying limb movement.】
【Skill activated: Swimming】
——————
“Just like archery, these are survival-adapted movements that the panel can record,” Chen Jue thought delightedly.
With skills appearing, he could directly observe his technical progress.
His wild swimming style resembled freestyle: alternating arm strokes, flutter kicks, body floating in a straight line.
But lacking professional breathing techniques, he would hold his breath as long as possible, then either switch to dog paddle to breathe, flip over to his preferred backstroke for air, or worst case, tread water and lift his head for gasps.
Such abrupt breathing broke his rhythm, so after two laps in the short pool and gaining over ten points of swimming proficiency, Chen Jue stopped.
“I really need professional guidance!” he resolved, glancing at the better swimmers around the pool.
He noticed that those with professional technique all started with breaststroke.
Breaststroke featured a clear, upward breathing motion, easier to grasp than freestyle’s side breathing.
Still, Chen Jue disliked breaststroke. He preferred his own rough-and-ready wild style.
After familiarizing himself with the lanes, he took a deep breath and pushed off hard from the pool wall, mimicking pro swimmers’ strokes, shooting through the water like a fish for about ten meters.
When the initial push faded, he began rapid alternating arm strokes, strong flutter kicks above the lane line, his body straight as a dart, sprinting forward.
Ten meters, five meters, two meters—only when he touched the finish line did he lift his head sharply and exhale the stale air from his mouth and lungs, then inhale fresh oxygen.
“I actually swam the whole length in one breath?”
“Twenty-five meters isn’t that far after all!”
He looked back at his lane, noticing several breaststroke swimmers glancing his way.
His long underwater glide must have drawn some curious stares.
To his surprise, after completing the 25-meter underwater swim, his panel displayed a new notification:
——————
【Ding~】
【Completed a high-intensity underwater swim, significantly improving your swimming skill. Slightly enhanced cardiopulmonary function.】
【Swimming proficiency +50】
【Constitution attribute +0.01】
——————
(This chapter was from last night; I was half-asleep halfway through writing and went to rest. Feeling better today, so posting more.)
(End of chapter)