Chapter 46: Day Three of Training 2
Selene led Adam to the gravity chamber.
The large, black, rune-covered door loomed before them like a promise of suffering.
Adam stared at it for a few seconds.
"I’m starting to recognize this door."
Selene placed her hand on it.
"Good. You’ll also learn to fear it properly."
"I already fear it."
"Not enough."
The runes glowed.
The door opened.
Adam stepped behind it.
The chamber was exactly as he remembered it.
Immense.
Impossible.
Far too large to exist beneath the guild.
The floor was still composed of thousands of shifting tiles, some floating, some tilted, some ready to sink without warning.
But this time, Adam immediately sensed a difference.
The runes shone brighter.
The tiles were already moving faster.
Gravity in the room seemed slightly unstable, even before the training officially began.
Adam slowly turned his head toward Selene.
"You’ve increased the difficulty."
"Yes."
"I suspected as much."
"Yesterday, you survived the first level. Today, we’re moving on to the next one."
Adam looked at the shifting floor.
"You know that ’surviving’ doesn’t necessarily mean ’being prepared for worse’?"
Selene smiled.
"In my guild, it does."
She tossed him a training sword.
Adam caught it, then placed his feet on the first tiles.
Immediately, the floor rippled beneath him.
His body reacted faster than he would have thought.
Mana’s body distributed its energy through his legs.
Adaptation helped him accept the change instead of fighting it.
The boundary corrected his center of gravity almost immediately.
Adam remained standing.
Selene noticed.
Her golden eyes narrowed slightly.
"Hm."
Adam stiffened.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"When you say ’nothing,’ it’s never nothing."
"Focus."
She attacked.
Like the day before, the first exchange was brutal.
Selene struck with precision, changing her angle with every movement and using the variations of the ground as if they were part of her own body.
Adam, on the other hand, absorbed the blows.
He seemed to.
Slid.
Fall.
Get up.
At first, it resembled the previous session.
He was taking hits.
A lot of hits.
But very quickly, something changed.
The day before, his body needed several mistakes to understand a variation.
Today, sometimes just one was enough.
A slab tilted.
He corrected.
Gravity lessened.
He adjusted the strength of his arm.
The ground rose beneath his foot.
He transformed the movement into a pivot.
Even when he fell, he fell better.
Less heavily.
With more control.
Selene continued to watch him as she attacked.
At first, she said nothing.
Then his expression became more focused.
Adam dodged a sideways strike by using a floating platform to change his angle.
Selene smiled.
Then she accelerated.
BAM!
Adam was thrown to the ground.
"Too slow."
He grimaced.
"You just increased your speed."
"Yes."
"That wasn’t in the plan."
"Now it is."
He got up.
Training resumed.
The longer the session went on, the more Selene seemed to find something strange.
After twenty minutes, Adam was still far from landing a hit.
But he was falling much less often.
After forty minutes, he managed to maintain his guard despite a sudden change in gravity.
After an hour, he even managed to turn a fall into a roll, then get back up before Selene could deliver the final blow.
The tiger-woman stopped.
Adam, panting, raised his sword.
"Why are you stopping?"
Selene stared at him.
"You’re adapting too quickly."
Adam remained motionless.
"Is that a complaint?"
"An observation."
"With you, that’s often the beginning of a problem."
She approached him slowly.
"Yesterday, your body learned quickly. Today, it corrects certain errors almost immediately."
Adam looked away slightly.
Selene saw him.
Her smile vanished.
"Adam."
"Yes?"
"What are you hiding from me?"
He remained silent.
A slab sank behind him.
Gravity increased slightly.
But this time, it wasn’t the room that seemed dangerous.
It was Selene’s gaze.
Adam sighed.
"I received a new skill last night."
Selene’s ears perked up.
"What skill?"
"Adaptation."
A silence fell.
Selene stared at him for a long moment.
Then her face took on that very particular expression.
The one that clearly said: I knew something was wrong.
Adam immediately raised his hands.
"In my defense, I got it this morning. I haven’t really had time to tell you."
Selene narrowed her eyes.
"You had time to eat lunch."
"There were the plans for the Memory Crystal, the discussions on the magical networks, the Valorian Games, the Empire, the unknown runes—"
"You forgot to mention a skill that directly influences your training." "
Adam remained silent.
"Put like that, it does sound bad."
Selene smiled.
But that smile was anything but reassuring.
"Very well."
Adam felt a shiver run down his spine.
"Selene..."
"Since you have a skill that helps you adapt, I’m going to give you a reason to use it properly."
She raised her hand toward her Ring of Promise.
A blue glow appeared.
Then four metal bracelets materialized in her palm.
Two wider ones.
Two thinner ones.
All were engraved with deep, heavy runes.
Selene handed them to him.
"Put them on."
Adam stared at the bracelets.
"Why do I feel like I shouldn’t?"
"Because you have a survival instinct. Put them on."
Adam sighed, then took the bracelets.
He fastened two around his wrists.
Then two around his ankles.
The instant the last one closed, his body felt heavier.
Not heavy enough to crush him.
But enough that every movement required more effort.
Adam bent his knees slightly.
"What are these?"
Selene crossed her arms.
"Progressive Charge Bracelets. I ordered them from Elaria."
Adam stared at the runes.
"Elaria knew about this?"
"Of course."
"Why am I always the last to know?"
"Because you make funny faces."
Adam closed his eyes.
"I see." »
He activated Eyes of the World.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Eyes of the World
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Item: Grading Armlets
Creator: Elaria Sylverleaf
Type: Rune Training Equipment
Grade: Rare
Primary Function:
*Increases the load on the wearer’s body by 70% of their total physical strength.
Secondary Function:
*Gradual adjustment based on the wearer’s physical improvement
*Increased resistance during rapid movements
*Partial synchronization with mana flow
Estimated Effect:
*Consistent muscle strengthening
*Improved endurance
*Accelerated bodily adaptation
Warning:
Prolonged use is not recommended without sufficient recovery.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Adam read the window.
Then he slowly raised his eyes to Selene.
"Seventy percent?"
"Yes."
"You want me to restrict nearly 70% of my physical capabilities?"
"Not nearly. One training load." "
"That’s a very elegant way of saying torture."
"No. Torture doesn’t necessarily make you stronger. This does."
Adam looked at his wrists.
Every movement seemed slightly slowed.
Even raising his sword required more effort.
Selene continued:
"You will wear them from now on."
Adam froze.
"During training?"
"No. All the time."
He looked at her.
"All the time?"
"At the guild. In the street. During your classes. When you’re traveling. During your work."
She raised a finger.
"You’re only allowed to take them off in your room, to sleep, to shower, or if your body shows a real sign of strain."
Adam opened his mouth.
Then closed it again.
"Are you serious?"
"Very serious."
"What if Elaria asks me why I’m writing more slowly?"
"You can thank her. She’s the one who made them."
Adam remained silent.
"Of course she is."
Selene smiled.
"Your body adapts quickly. So we’re going to give it something to constantly adapt to."
Adam looked down at the bracelets.
He understood the logic.
He hated it, but he understood it.
With Adaptation, Mana Body, and Vigorous Body, his body would gradually come to consider this load normal.
And when he took them off...
His movements would be much faster.
Lighter.
More powerful.
Adam sighed.
"Very well."
Selene raised an eyebrow.
"Do you accept?"
"Yes."
He gripped the hilt of his sword.
"If it’s effective, I’ll do it."
Selene’s smile grew prouder.
"Good answer."
Then her aura shifted.
"Now, let’s try again."
The room stirred once more.
The floorboards rippled.
Gravity shifted.
Adam tried to find his footing.
But this time, everything was different.
His arms felt heavier.
His legs responded more slowly.
Each change in gravity became more violent.
When gravity increased, the wristbands seemed to amplify the pressure.
When gravity decreased, his body struggled to adjust to the remaining load.
When the floor tilted, his ankles had to compensate more.
With the first exchange, Selene threw him to the ground almost immediately.
BAM!
Adam winced.
"I think my body hates me."
Selene looked down at him.
"He’ll get used to it."
"That’s what worries me."
He got up.
Started again.
Falls.
Gets up again.
Each movement was more costly.
Each block burned his muscles more.
But the further the session progressed, the more his body reacted.
Mana Body adjusted the circulation.
Vigorous Body absorbed the fatigue.
Adaptation gradually absorbed the strain.
Definer corrected the postural errors caused by the weight.
The bracelets, for their part, seemed to sense his progress.
As soon as Adam got a little used to the load, the runes pulsed slightly.
The pressure became finer.
More difficult.
Not necessarily heavier.
But better positioned to hinder him.
On his wrists during parries.
On his ankles during dodges.
In the transitions between two movements.
Adam understood then.
It wasn’t just a weight.
It was a silent adversary.
A tool designed to prevent his body from finding comfort.
"Elaria..."
He narrowly avoided a blow from Selene.
"She really did create a horrible thing."
Selene smiled.
"She followed my instructions."
"You’re a dangerous combination."
"Thank you."
"That wasn’t a compliment."
"I’ll take it as such."
The session continued even more brutally than the last.
Adam made no visible progress in the duel.
Selene still dominated him.
She landed hits on him.
Disarmed him.
Knocked him to the ground.
Every time he thought he’d found his rhythm, she changed her angle.
Every time he adjusted to the ground, the gravity shifted.
Every time his body got used to the load, the wristbands slightly modified their pressure.
It was a vicious cycle.
But also incredibly effective.
His body had no choice.
He had to learn.
Again.
Again.
And again.
After a long while, Adam managed to complete three full exchanges without falling.
Selene immediately accelerated.
He was thrown to the ground on the fourth.
Adam lay there for a few seconds, breathless.
"You know..."
He inhaled heavily.
"I feel like I’m getting stronger."
Selene moved closer.
"You are."
Adam turned his head toward her.
"Then why don’t I see any difference against you?"
Selene crouched down beside him.
Her golden eyes were calm.
"Because I adapt too."
Adam remained silent.
She rested her training sword on his shoulder.
"If you improve, I increase the pressure. If you correct a mistake, I look for the next one. If your body gets used to it, I change the conditions."
She smiled.
"My role isn’t to let you feel strong. My role is to prevent you from becoming complacent too soon."
Adam stared at the ceiling.
This answer was frustrating.
But fair.
"So as long as I train with you, I’ll always feel weak."
"Yes."
"That’s depressing."
"No. It’s useful." "
She stood up.
"The day you face someone who isn’t me, you’ll understand the difference."
Adam remained silent.
Then he smiled faintly.
"I’ll hold on to that idea."
A notification appeared in front of him.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Training Complete
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Location: Gravitational Adaptation Chamber
Floor Level: Increased
Gravitational Variation: 0G to 2G
Equipment Used: Progressive Charge Bracelets
Results:
*Adaptation Lv. 1: Increased Progression
*Vigorous Body Lv. 2: Enhanced Resistance
*Mana Body Level 2: Improved Constraint Synchronization
*Sword Mastery Level 2: Increased Progression
*Improved Dynamic Balance
*Increased Load Tolerance
*Improved Reaction on Unstable Terrain
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Adam read the lines of light.
His body felt heavy.
His muscles burned.
But he felt something.
Beneath the pain, beneath the fatigue, beneath the frustration...
There was a new strength.
Not spectacular.
Not yet visible.
But real.
He struggled to his feet.
The bracelets made even this simple movement more difficult.
Selene watched him.
"You keep them on."
Adam looked at her.
"I know."
"Even when going to Elaria’s."
"I know."
"Even when going to Shiora’s."
"I know."
"Even to the Mage Tower."
Adam sighed.
"Do you want me to confirm every destination?"
"No. I want your brain to give up the idea of taking them off."
He stared at her.
Then he looked down at the bracelets.
"Done. My brain is already suffering."
Selene smiled.
"Perfect."
They left the gravity chamber.
As soon as they reached the normal corridor, Adam immediately felt the constant weight of the bracelets.
Walking was harder than before.
Climbing a single step required more attention.
Even holding his sword at his belt felt heavier.
But he continued without complaining.
Selene noticed.
"Good."
Adam turned his head toward her.
"You managed to say a compliment in a single word again."
"Would you prefer I add a threat?"
"No. That’s enough for me."
She laughed softly.
When they arrived at the guild entrance, several female adventurers looked at him curiously.
Some noticed the bracelets on his wrists and ankles.
One young adventurer whispered,
"He’s wearing the charge bracelets? Already?"
Another replied in a low voice,
"The guild master really doesn’t mess around with him..."
Adam heard perfectly.
He slowly turned his head toward Selene.
"Already?"
Selene smiled.
"Usually, I give them out later."
"How much later?"
"After several weeks." "
Adam froze.
"Several weeks?"
"Yes."
"And I get them on the second day?"
"You have Adaptation."
He closed his eyes.
"I regret telling you about that skill."
"Too late."
Obviously.
Selene placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Go. Elaria is waiting for you. And give her my opinion."
Adam raised an eyebrow.
"What opinion?"
Selene tapped one of the bracelets.
"They work very well. But she can still improve the load distribution on the ankles."
Adam stared at her.
"You want me to ask her to improve the thing that’s torturing me?"
"Yes."
"Do you understand the irony?"
"I relish it."
Adam remained silent.
Then he sighed.
"Very well. I’ll pass it on."
Selene smiled with satisfaction.
"See you later, Adam."
This time, he replied without hesitation.
"See you later, Selene."
Then he left the Adventurers’ Guild.
The sun was already higher in the sky.
The street seemed normal.
Stable.
Peaceful.
But with the bracelets, every step was a reminder of the training.
Every movement became an exercise.
Every step transformed his body into a permanent construction site.
Adam felt his legs ache.
His wrists grow heavy.
His back ache.
But instead of complaining, he took a deep breath.
"Very well..."
He looked toward the Artisans’ Guild.
"Let’s go see the creator of these instruments of torture." "
And, carrying the new burden of his training, Adam headed towards his next destination."