Soon, Severin finished his lunch and happily patted his stomach, which was slightly bulging.
’Damn, this body can really eat... What a blessing.’
Because of his half-cursed body and the daily training drills he put himself through, Severin had always needed a large amount of food. But after his Adaptation Talent forcefully developed a skill beyond his current capacity, his food intake had actually doubled.
He could feel the food being converted into energy, feeding his body and preventing it from weakening under the strain.
’Well, can’t help it. My mana is too low.’
Skills don’t just come out of nowhere. In Eclipse of Eternity, there are two important criteria that determine whether someone can learn and use a skill.
First, your body and energy need to be strong enough to handle it. This is why people can’t just go around learning random skills whenever they want. If they gain more skills than their body can tolerate, their physical condition will start to weaken, and even their mana can become unstable and go out of control.
In the end, having more skills doesn’t always mean you’re stronger. You need a body and mana pool capable of supporting them.
This is one reason people only evolve and develop skills related to their class. Even Severin only had Iron Will as a non-class skill before this, which developed purely from pushing his body past its limits after awakening.
As for the second thing, it’s the recognition of the World Will.
Every skill must be recognized and accepted by the World Will of Eclipse of Eternity. This is why the development of an Ultimate Skill has always been extremely rare, even since ancient times.
After all, skills of that level don’t simply use mana or energy. They directly touch upon the power of Laws and, at the highest level, even reality itself.
In the game, he had only seen an Ultimate Skill used once across all ten updates, leaving the eleventh update entirely since he never got to play it.
’Okay, let’s hit the gym.’
In Aethryndian Academy, one could find anything imaginable, from a shopping district to a marriage hall.
Yeah, right. There was a freaking marriage hall right inside this Academy.
After walking for nearly 20 minutes, he found a gym with private facilities and gravity rooms.
Entering inside, he found a bulky guy at the reception. He was also the owner of the gym.
"I want to book the gravity gym room," he said without getting into any meaningless talk.
"Alright, that woul—"
"Keep that on my account." Before the bulky guy could finish, Severin cut him off.
"...Okay, but we only allow debts for up to a month."
After filling in his name, Severin took the room card and walked away.
He soon found his room and entered it.
Inside, the room was pure white and filled with gym equipment.
"Welcome, Severin D’Auremont."
A genderless mechanical voice came from his side.
He turned to look at it. It was a 5 cm-sized metal ball with blue runes covering its body.
"Checking your access level."
"Note: you only have permission to use the gravity room up to 5 times."
"Oh... Then max it," Severin said in a casual tone.
"WARNING! It is recommended to slowly get used to—"
"Cut the crap and just do it," he said with a slightly impatient tone.
"GRAVITY 5X INITIATED."
The moment the gravity reached 5×, Severin’s entire body slammed downward.
"—Guh!"
His knees nearly buckled the moment the gravity hit.
An incredible weight pressed down on his entire body.
Every part of him suddenly felt heavy. His head started buzzing, almost as if someone had hammered it from the inside.
"What the—"
His vision blurred.
Before he could even understand what was happening, his legs gave out.
Bang!
Severin hit the floor.
His consciousness faded almost immediately.
[You are adapting....]
[.....You are adapting...]
[.....Adapting...]
Thirty seconds later, Severin slowly opened his eyes.
For a few seconds, he just stared at the ceiling, completely confused.
Then he remembered.
’Ah... right. The gravity room.’
The pressure was still there.
"Ugh..."
He tried to take a breath, but even that felt difficult.
His chest barely moved.
’Is this what 5X gravity feels like?’
His whole body felt ridiculously heavy. Moving his arms took effort, and even lifting his head felt like a chore.
He stayed on the floor for a while.
There was no point in rushing.
If he moved too quickly, he had a feeling he’d just pass out again.
Severin slowly placed his palm against the floor and tried to push himself up.
His arm trembled.
Nothing happened.
"Come on..."
He gritted his teeth and pushed harder.
His arm shook even more, but this time, his upper body moved slightly.
"Haah..."
He stopped and took another breath.
It was still difficult, but...
It felt a little easier than before.
Severin frowned.
’Wait.’
He paid closer attention to his body.
The pressure hadn’t changed.
The gravity was still at 5X.
So why did it suddenly feel slightly more manageable?
His breathing was slowly becoming steadier. His muscles weren’t shaking as badly either.
Even his heartbeat seemed to be calming down.
’My body is adapting to this gravity’
Severin’s eyes widened slightly.
He hadn’t used any mana as he can’t because his mana control was practically zero not to mention using it in this gravity room was even tougher.
His Adaptation Talent was doing it on its own.
The realization made him stare at his hands.
"So this is what it means..."
His body was being pushed beyond its limits, and instead of simply breaking down, it was slowly adjusting to the pressure.
It wasn’t comfortable.
Far from it.
His muscles still hurt, his body still felt incredibly heavy, and breathing was still a struggle.
But compared to thirty seconds ago...
There was already a difference.
Severin clenched his fist.
His hand barely shook this time.
A small smile appeared on his face.
’It’s really working.’
He placed both hands on the floor and slowly pushed himself up.
His arms trembled as he got onto his knees.
He paused there, breathing heavily.
"Okay..."
He wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"That’s already better."
Severin tried to stand.
His legs shook immediately.
For a moment, he thought they were going to give out again.
But they held.
He stood there, slightly hunched over, taking deep breaths.
Just thirty seconds ago, he couldn’t even stay conscious.
Now he was standing.
It wasn’t a huge improvement.
But it was enough for Severin to understand what his Adaptation Talent could really do.
He looked at the gravity display hologram floating just at the head of metal ball.
GRAVITY: 5X
A grin slowly appeared on his face.
’If my body can adapt this quickly...’
He took another breath and steadied himself.
’It’s really a pity I can’t use higher gravity.’
Then he took out his coat.
"I should have brought my training clothes."
Though the uniform was perfectly fine for combat, it wasn’t ideal for training.
Severin looked around the room for a moment before slowly moving toward the training equipment. Just standing under 5X gravity was already exhausting enough, but if his Adaptation Talent was really responding to the pressure, then simply lying on the floor and waiting for it to do all the work felt like a waste of time.
He started with something simple.
Squats.
Severin slowly bent his knees, lowering his body while keeping his balance. The moment his legs began to bend, his thighs started trembling. Under normal gravity, this would barely count as a warm-up, but now every movement felt several times harder. It was as if someone had placed a massive weight on his shoulders and expected him to move normally.
By the time he stood back up, he was already breathing heavily.
’Damn... this really changes everything.’
He rested for a few seconds before doing another one. Then another.
The first few repetitions were awkward. His body still wasn’t used to moving under this much pressure, and more than once, he almost lost his balance. His legs shook whenever he pushed himself back up, and his breathing gradually became heavier. Still, Severin continued at his own pace instead of forcing himself to move quickly.
There was no point in trying to act tough and collapsing again after a few minutes.
As the repetitions continued, however, he began to notice changes.
The gravity hadn’t become lighter. The pressure pressing down on him was still exactly the same, but his body was slowly getting used to it. The movements that had felt almost impossible a few minutes ago were now merely difficult.
It wasn’t some sudden increase in strength.
His body was simply learning how to deal with the pressure.
After finishing the squats, Severin moved on to push-ups. He lowered himself toward the floor, only to realize that his arms were having an even harder time than his legs. His body felt ridiculously heavy, and pushing himself back up required nearly all of his strength.
"Seriously?"
He let out a tired breath and shook his head.
Under normal conditions, he could probably do far more than this without even thinking about it. But under 5X gravity, even a few push-ups were enough to make his arms shake.
Still, he continued.
His movements were slow and far from perfect. Sometimes he had to stop halfway and rest before trying again. Sweat gradually gathered on his forehead, and his clothes slowly became damp as his body worked harder and harder to keep up with the pressure.
But Severin didn’t seem bothered.
If anything, he was starting to enjoy it.
Every few minutes, he could feel a small change in his body. His breathing became slightly more controlled, his movements became a little smoother, and the trembling in his muscles gradually decreased. The changes were small enough that he might not have noticed them under normal circumstances, but inside the gravity room, every bit of improvement was obvious.
’So this is how my Adaptation Talent works.’
His body wasn’t magically becoming stronger in an instant. It was being forced to adjust to an environment it couldn’t normally handle. The more pressure it experienced, the more it struggled to find a way to endure it.
Of course, that didn’t mean the process was painless.
By the time Severin finished another round of exercises, his entire body felt exhausted. His arms were heavy, his legs were trembling, and even breathing still required more effort than usual.
But compared to the moment he had first entered the room and immediately lost consciousness, the difference was obvious.
At least now he could stand.
He could move.
He could train.
Severin again glanced at the display.
GRAVITY: 5X
The number hadn’t changed even once.
Yet his body had.
A small grin appeared on his face as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"Not bad."