( The next day )
Max and Asiva parted ways as their plans to attend lectures differed from each other today and since Max was going directly to training after class in the gravity chamber, he informed Asiva in advance that he would meet her directly during departure time.
Max attended the lecture ' Basics Of Mana' once more and gained more insights into the workings of mana and its properties.
The key takeaway points that Max learnt from the lecture were
Mana was like a river flowing through the cosmos. It could be considered as a tidal force that flowed.
Mana could be visualised as an endless ocean, with a lot of marine life inside, for the marine life the ocean seemed to be the whole universe, however, there was also land and air that it was unaware of. Similarly while mana was a vast force, it was not the only force in the universe, one of its biggest alternatives being energy.
Organic energy, or energy, was the 'stamina' aspect of one's stat bar, it was the energy derived from consuming foods and converted to energy by the body.
Organic energy was different from mana, and it fuelled vital bodily functions, but it could also be supplemented by mana, which was the reason why immortal god's no longer needed to eat food for sustenance and some special species had evolved to survive on mana only. But the vice-versa also held true, one could supplement mana by the use of physical energy, however, this field was largely unexplored as of yet.
The lecture gave Max a lot of thought provoking questions to ponder on, as he resolved himself to never miss a single lecture in the future to know more about such interesting things.
From there Max went straight to the gravity chamber.
The gravity chamber was crowded today with there being nearly 200 people already in-line ahead of Max and many more lining up behind him.
The cost of using the chamber for an hour was a high 200 merit points/ hour. Which meant that using it for a couple of hours was almost as costly as attending a lecture.
Max had about 3500 merit points saved up, so he could afford to pay the rent for the 10 hours before he needed to head out, as he unhesitatingly paid a full 2000 merit points before entering the chamber.
The moment Max entered the gravity room, he felt dizzy as he struggled to breathe or stay on his feet.
Around him there was a large enclosed chamber that spanned for a whopping 5 kilometres square in area, with many small zones within with varying degrees of gravity for one to train in.
Max was currently at a gravity level which was equivalent to 5 times the gravity of earth, which was the lowest gravity amount in the entire chamber.
There were treadmills and other exercise equipment around him, as depending on his preference Max could choose what type of training he would do here today.
The gravity chamber was useful for both agility and endurance type training.
In theory it was also useful for strength training, but since weight was just mass times gravity, if one lifted a 1KG dumbbell in the five times gravity chamber, they could just lift a 5KG one in the gym.
Max chose to go for agility training, as he began running on the inclined treadmill, which increased in speed every 1 minute that passed.
Today was the first day since the principal's speech and many people seemed to be motivated to follow his training routine, as the chamber was being filled up with every passing second.
The stronger, tier 1 individuals went straight from the 5G zone to the higher zones, while many of the weaker tier 0 one's could not handle 5G itself, as they fainted not even a full minute into the chamber, and had to be escorted out by the staff.
Max grit his teeth as he wondered if he could actually last the ten hours that he had paid his merit points for as he started the first exercise on the treadmill to get his body warmed up properly.
Just after 5 short minutes, Max was sweating profusely as his mind started to go numb and his heart felt like it was beating straight out of his chest, overloading itself as it tried to pump blood to the brain.
' Easy there boy, don't forget to breathe,' Grandpa Drax said, as he examined Max's poor body condition.
Max continued to run but it was clear that his body would not be able to endure this torture for much longer as black spots started to dance infront of Max's eyes by the time minute 7 rolled around.
' Too hard…. I- I can't '. Max whispered to Drax in his mind, wanting to shy away from the pain that his body was currently in.
' Is this it boy? Is this how far your pathetic will power goes? , HA , WEAKLING '. Drax tried to light a fire under Max, trying to motivate him.
' It's okay Max, Quit, Quit if you want to see Jack and Amy being dragged from in front of your eyes again, Quit if you want to remain the weakling that let it happen '. Drax said insulting Max, hitting a nerve as he could feel the anger in Max's heart rising.
' Shut up '. Max said as he picked up speed once more, as although he was panting heavily the insult gave him a much needed adrenaline boost which helped him whether through his desire to quit at the moment.
,m ' You are not even tier 1 yet, what happens when Benedict or some other brat messes with you? Huh? Will you go running to your brother as usual? '. Drax asked
' Shut up! ' Max said this time his voice sounded a little more hoarse inside his own head, as Drax smiled looking at the changes inside Max's own body.
' It's barely been ten minutes, I can see why Sophie cheated on you, with stamina so low, it's hard to call yourself a man '.
" SHUT UP! ". Max shouted loudly, as his conscious mind shut down and his primal instincts took over his body.
Max, who was panting heavily, suddenly regained his posture and steadied his breathing pattern as he subconsciously started using blood manipulation to thin his own blood and help it reach the parts of his body where it was currently struggling to reach due to high gravity.
Suddenly, the training became bearable for Max who to the surprise of everyone in the room ran at a rhythmic rate, seemingly not affected by the high gravity conditions.
Drax quietened down after this, as he felt Max's animalistic insides being polished while his conscious mind was switched off, as he monitored the sweet system notifications of
+1 stamina!
+1 endurance!
+1 stamina!
Satisfied grandpa Drax smiled, the boy was finally on the right track.
Not only was he farming attributes, but his training was also polishing his muscle memory and his willpower, which were vital to his advancement as a warrior in the future.
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/// A/N- Bonus chapter for hitting the GT target, good job everyone.
After some deliberation, I have decided to keep the PS and GT targets for this week the same as last one. ///