Marvel: Shadow Monarch Chapter 3 3: Too Dense?

Novel: Marvel: Shadow Monarch Author: FreakyHaru Updated: May 20, 2026

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.....

"Sixty-eight... sixty-nine... seventy..."

Anna's voice provided a steady rhythm as I continued my sit-ups, my core working efficiently through the motion.

The concrete floor was cold against my back, but I'd gotten used to worse discomforts over the past seven months.

First daily quest, I thought, keeping my breathing steady as I lifted my torso again. No idea what kind of rewards I'm looking at here.

This was uncharted territory for . The quest itself had been interesting when it first appeared.

In the Solo Leveling novel, Sung Jin-Woo's daily quest had been sit-ups, push-ups, squats, and running. Mine was similar but adapted—sit-ups, push-ups, squats, and leg raises instead of pull-ups and running.

Makes sense, I mused as I completed another rep. Can't exactly go for a jog in a cell, and there's nowhere to do pull-ups.

It was like the system had taken my environnt into consideration.

The reason I was not sure about the rewards was due to the different quests. Since the quests had changed, it was possible that the rewards might be different too.

The original quest paraters called for a hundred of each exercise.

Simple enough, especially with my enhanced physique making it feel like a warm-up rather than a real challenge.

But I rembered sothing crucial from the later parts of the story—Jin-Woo had eventually figured out that he could exceed the criteria of a hundred reps for more rewards.

Since I had that knowledge from the start, I decided to test it imdiately.

Two hundred push-ups and two hundred squats were already done and proved right about the above hundred limit.

I completed them easily over the past few minutes while Anna watched with growing amazent.

My enhanced physique made the exercises feel almost effortless—what would exhaust a normal human was just good conditioning for .

"Eighty-five... eighty-six... eighty-seven..."

Anna's counting continued, though I could hear slight concern in her voice. She'd already asked twice if I was sure I wanted to keep going past a hundred, clearly surprised by my stamina.

Well, the reason for her concern was genuine as well, we weren't exactly being fed to the full here.

Almost done with this set.

I was aiming for two hundred sit-ups as well, doubling the requirent of the quest.

This was probably the only good workout I had in the past few months I have been here.

Well, I had my motivations for doing it, too, and they were both the rewards and the punishnts.

In my quest window, both sections were marked as [CLASSIFIED], which was similar to the novel.

In Jin-Woo's case, the punishnt for failure was scary as hell—getting dropped in so desert dinsion filled with hostile monsters.

I really hoped my punishnt wouldn't be sothing similar, but I hoped that the rewards would be.

"Ninety-five... ninety-six... ninety-seven..."

"One hundred and ninety-eight... one hundred and ninety-nine... two hundred!"

I completed the final sit-up and sat up, barely breathing hard.

A light sheen of sweat had ford on my forehead, but nothing excessive.

"Jesus, Lucien," Anna breathed, staring at with wide eyes. "Are you even human? I've never seen anyone push themselves like that."

If only you knew, I thought, but just gave her a tired smile. "Guess I had more in than I thought... plus, we are mutants."

She shook her head in amazent, then her expression shifted to sothing I couldn't quite identify.

There was concern there, yes, but also sothing else. Sothing that made my pulse quicken for reasons that had nothing to do with exercise.

"Damn, sugar..." Anna's voice ca from the adjacent cell, and there was sothing different in her tone. Softer. More intimate. "You look hot during a workout."

I blinked, turning my head to look at her through the transparent barrier. She was watching with an expression I couldn't quite read, her cheeks slightly flushed.

There was sothing in her eyes that made my brain short-circuit for a mont.

What do I even say to that?

I'd never had much interaction with girls in either life—too busy surviving in my original world, and the original Lucien had been too focused on hiding his developing powers to pursue romance.

This kind of comnt left completely out of my depth, like trying to navigate a minefield while blindfolded.

"Uh... thanks?" I managed, my voice cracking slightly.

I gave what was probably the most awkward laugh in the history of awkward laughs, the kind that made it obvious I had no idea how to handle complints about my appearance.

Anna's expression shifted imdiately, and she turned her face to the side with a definite pout. Her lips moved as she spoke, but her voice was so quiet and muffled by the barrier that I couldn't make out the words.

"At least complint too," she muttered under her breath, just loud enough that I could see her mouth moving but not hear the actual words.

I caught the movent of her lips but couldn't make out what she'd said through the combination of the transparent barrier and her deliberately quiet voice. "What was that?"

"Nothing," she said quickly, still not looking at directly. Her cheeks were definitely redder now, and she was doing that thing where she pretended to be interested in the ceiling tiles.

Okay, she's definitely pouting about sothing.

I had no idea what I'd done wrong this ti. Anna's moods could be a complete mystery sotis, and seven months of friendship didn't an I understood everything about how her mind worked.

Won were apparently complicated in both universes.

I sat up slowly, still feeling the aftereffects of the intense workout.

My muscles ached a bit in a way that felt productive rather than painful, like they were already adapting to the new demands I was placing on them.

"Can you count my leg raises?" I asked, getting ready for the final part of the quest. "This is the last exercise, then I'll be done."

"Hmph. Fine," she replied, finally turning back to face but still maintaining that slightly offended expression. Her arms were crossed, and she had that stubborn set to her jaw that I'd learned ant she was determined to stay annoyed about sothing.

I shook my head at her antics, a small smile tugging at my lips despite my confusion.

Anna could go from flirtatious to pouty to helpful in the span of thirty seconds, and I'd learned to just roll with it. Better to focus on finishing the quest and figure out whatever I'd done wrong later.

Lying back down, I positioned myself for the leg raises.

"One... two... three..."

Anna's counting resud, though she still sounded slightly irritated about sothing I couldn't identify. I decided to focus on the exercise and let her work through whatever was bothering her.

The leg raises were definitely more demanding than the previous exercises. Each repetition required control and core strength.

"Fifty-one... fifty-two... fifty-three..."

Halfway to the minimum requirent.

My legs were starting to feel the effort, but nothing like the exhaustion I would feel in my previous life.

"One hundred!" Anna called out. "Okay, that's it. You're done."

But I kept going, maintaining the steady rhythm.

"Lucien!" Anna's voice carried concern now. "What are you doing? You've already done more than enough!"

"Just want to push the limits," I replied, still maintaining perfect form. "See what I'm really capable of."

She looked like she wanted to argue, but resud counting. "One hundred and one... one hundred and two... You're absolutely crazy, you know that?"

The next hundred reps tested my endurance more than raw strength.

I could feel my body working harder as I approached the limits of what even my abilities could maintain effortlessly.

"One hundred ninety-eight... one hundred ninety-nine... two hundred!"

I let my legs drop to the floor, feeling pleasantly worked out rather than exhausted.

And then I saw it.

A notification appeared in my peripheral vision, clean and simple but sohow carrying a weight of significance that made my heart race:

DAILY QUEST COMPLETED REWARDS GRANTED