Chapter 228: No Pain, No Gain (Patreon)

Sorry, another few hours of delay (due to a bus strike, I had to hitchhike for four hours to get home yesterday). The kind of thing I can't predict.
All I can do is promise you that I spend every second of my free time writing.

Chapter! Next Tuesday the 14th. That deadline should be kept... 

Enjoy!

*

Lvl Up: [Revelation Resilience] lvl 29, 30
MEM +6
META (Affinity) +6
META (Authority) +6
Lvl Up: [Sun Steel Body] lvl 8
CONST +6
META (Endurance) +3
Lvl Up : [Gravity Resistance] lvl 23, 24
CONST +6
Lvl Up: [Inhuman Workout] lvl 10, 11, 12, 13
STR +12

"Finish your push-ups!"

The command—or was it an order?—threw Priam off balance, causing him to collapse. The hypergravity slammed him brutally to the ground, and in shock, he released his aether. A powerful impact struck his back, and he groaned in pain. Under the immense acceleration of artificial gravity, the wooden marble he had just managed to lift off the ground fell back.

With a shoulder jerk, he pushed away the wooden ball, which the hypergravity made as heavy as osmium, and rose while massaging his sore shoulder blade.

"Are you trying to sabotage me?" he asked, annoyed.

"You're doing a good job of that yourself," the phoenix teased. "How do you expect to beat my record if you don't use your only advantage? Use your draconic vivacity."

"That's what I was doing! Part of my focus was on push-ups, and a parallel thought finally managed to lift that marble," Priam grumbled. "Until you distracted me."

"You had stopped your push-ups."

"I'm not allowed a break?"

"Mid-set?" countered the phoenix.

Priam sighed as he weighed the wooden marble. "My aether proficiency takes precedence over my physical training." It was the final step before beginning to temper his body, and that temperance was the only way to become powerful enough to survive his upcoming Tribulations. "I managed to make this marble float by briefly gathering all my focus, and that's what matters, right?"

"You managed to propel it into the air and slow its fall," corrected the phoenix. "That's not the same thing. I yelled at you because you weren't using your draconic vivacity. Otherwise, you could have responded to me without dropping the marble."

"For a human, it's bizarre to have two thoughts simultaneously," Priam grimaced. "It's going to take me some time to get used to it."

"Priam, you're no longer just a human."

"I know, I—"

The campfire's flames doubled in volume as the phoenix's anger flared. "No, listen to me. You have died dozens of times, and you conjure fire and mist with a mere thought. If you were to make love to a human female without care, you would kill her, and even if you were careful, a kick from the child during gestation would do the job. Maybe you regret it, but you're no longer just a simple human. You can accept it and move forward, or you can lie there and wait for death."

Priam opened his mouth, then closed it. Several seconds passed before he responded.

"My body has changed, my powers too, but not my dreams or my ego," he sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I don't want to leave all my humanity behind, but I guess I can give up some unnecessary habits."

If he had truly used his evolved attribute well, only one of his parallel thoughts would have been disrupted by the phoenix. It was frustrating to fail, but it was the kind of lesson that stuck.

"In the future, I'll keep two thoughts at all times," he promised.

"That's your only advantage over my original at the same age: you have to use it and abuse it."

Priam nodded. He had a day and a half left to beat the phoenix's record.

*

Lvl Up : [Gravity Resistance] lvl 25
CONST +3
Lvl Up: [Inhuman Workout] lvl 14, 15
STR +6

Cut off from the world, a young man with misty eyes and dressed in flaming pants lay on a bench. He lifted a dense wooden bar with two marbles at its ends. The total mass of the bar was just over four hundred kilograms. Under the effect of gravity, it was equivalent to almost seven tons—a big African elephant.

I can't wait to arm wrestle Kazuki...

The first repetitions had been difficult, but thanks to his high vitality, Priam's muscle fibers were rebuilding rapidly. His strength continued to increase, and [Inhuman Workout] leveled up in return. Micro and the skill allowed him to fully exploit his high physical attributes and inhuman physique.

When he felt the movement becoming too easy, Priam asked Log-a-rhythm to add wood. Bench press training was monotonous, but the feeling of constant progress encouraged him to keep beating his own record.

As he breathed heavily, pushing with all his might, another part of his attention focused on a wooden marble floating a few centimeters above his head. A human would have searched for a long time without understanding how, because no thread, platform, or magnet acted on the ball.

There was no trick: Priam's aether surrounded the sphere, preventing it from falling. He had not yet succeeded in solidifying it, only in increasing its viscosity. The marble fell slowly, but an upward current in the fluid made it appear to float.

"A cheap trick," the phoenix muttered before sighing when he saw Priam wasn't listening.

His face red with effort, the tired warrior was surprised when he received a glowing ember in his mouth. Swallowing it halfway, he coughed, spat, and nearly got decapitated by the heavy wooden bar that slipped from his hands. Flexing his kinetic control, he effortlessly set it back on the bench press.

"Are you insane?!" he asked the phoenix after spitting out the charcoal.

"I'm dead," corrected the bird. "And you will be too if you don't get more results."

Priam grabbed a cup of sap, sat on the bench, and drank it in one gulp.

"What did I do wrong this time?" Priam had managed to levitate the marble for almost ten minutes and was rather proud of himself. He still had progress to make, but he felt he was improving.

The phoenix shook its head. "The result doesn't matter here. There may be a thousand ways to lift this marble using aether. A novice can fill it with energy to enchant it, and an expert can modify gravity, space, or its magnetic properties," he listed. "All these possibilities are interesting and will teach you things, but it's not what you need today."

"I need to solidify my aether," Priam added. The phoenix remained silent, bound by his oaths, and the young man sighed. "I understand what I need to do, but in practice, I’m stuck. I'm trying to exert pressure on it to change its state, but it just makes the fluid more viscous."

According to the physics Priam had studied before the Tutorial, the classical states of matter changed depending on temperature and pressure. By increasing the latter parameter, he had hoped to solidify the aether; in vain. And I can't lower the temperature of a fluid that has no kinetic energy...

"Maybe this fluid has nothing in common with water... After all, it's energy, not a real liquid."

Priam had already noticed while building rituals that aether had common properties with electricity but that wasn't helping. Turning energy into a solid made no sense. At least not classical energy...

Suddenly, he spotted a second piece of charcoal flying toward him and ducked to avoid it.

"You're not using your draconic vivacity," accused the bird.

"I'm thinking, not training."

The phoenix remained silent, and Priam grimaced. "I'm an idiot."

He boasted of not making the same mistake twice, yet he continued to underestimate the possibilities offered by parallel thoughts. Why think alone when he could compartmentalize his thoughts and debate with himself? A good discussion led to more solutions than two monologues. With the support of his system, he would certainly find ideas to solidify his aether.

Smiling, the young man crossed the room to grab a new meal tray. He needed to step back from the problem.

*

Lvl Up: [Revelation Resilience] lvl 31
MEM +3
META (Affinity) +3
META (Authority) +3
Lvl Up: [Sun Steel Body] lvl 9
CONST +6
META (Endurance) +3

POT -100

[Test 47 :
Domain + Potentiel + double marble]

Sitting cross-legged, eyes closed, Priam projected his aether into his Domain and condensed it around two marbles. He tapped lightly into his Potential and let the Concepts guide his hand, teaching him how to optimally manipulate his aether.

POT -5

His draconic vivacity generated two parallel thoughts, each focusing on one sphere. By comparing his performances, he could consider improvement strategies.

The two marbles rose as quickly as each other, the two compartmentalized thoughts being identical. Until an external event disturbed them.

A piece of charcoal struck one of the marbles, which fell to the ground. Priam opened one eye, looked at the phoenix, and smiled. The thought that was taking care of the intact ball hadn't lost any of its attention.

A second piece of charcoal flew toward the second marble. Priam deflected it with a flick of his finger, and the orb continued to float peacefully.

"My two streams of thought are distinct, but they communicate regularly," Priam smiled.

"A dragon would do better," said the phoenix.

Priam waited for advice, comments, or remarks, but none came. At last, he had met some of the phoenix's expectations.

*

Lvl Up: [Revelation Resilience] lvl 32, 33
MEM +6
META (Affinity) +6
META (Authority) +6
Lvl Up: [Sun Steel Body] lvl 10
CONST +6
META (Endurance) +3
Lvl Up : [Gravity Resistance] lvl 26
CONST +3
Lvl Up: [Inhuman Workout] lvl 16, 17, 18
STR +9

POT -145

The flames crackled at the center of the room, casting dancing shadows against the walls. Lazy tendrils of smoke rose into the air, disappearing into the portal above.

Less than a meter from the campfire, Priam worked tirelessly. Except for brief breaks to drink, sleep, or relieve himself, he hadn't stopped for a moment. Even the phoenix had fallen silent in the face of the young man's work ethic. The drive to compete and survive, which had initially pushed Priam to excel, had been almost replaced by a stubborn pride; he refused to give up until he understood.

Pushing against his thighs, Priam activated the leg press, his face flushed with exertion. Halfway through his set, the System rewarded him.

Lvl Up: [Inhuman Workout] lvl 19
STR +3

His magical development was yielding results as well. After a day of compressing his aether, he had stumbled upon a problem. Unlike his physical abilities with Micro, there was no Supremacy to help him unlock the full potential of his meta attributes. While Domain amplified some of his capabilities, it didn't aid him in mastering them.

[Test 213:
Aura + Domain]

As his legs pushed against a wooden block mounted on rails once more, Priam used his sphere of authority to condense his aether around the wooden marble on his chest. [Aether Manipulation] and Domain worked in tandem, pressing together until the energy layer became dense enough to lift the marble.

Priam remained focused. The fluid was incredibly dense, but still not solid. Following the two-hundred-thirteenth protocol he had developed through selves-reflection, he invoked his Conquest Aura with the help of his second parallel thought—previously ensuring the leg press was secured to avoid injury.

Gathering his Aura around the marble, he attempted to merge it with his aether. The two energies briefly mingled before separating like oil and water. The heterogeneous layer ruptured, dropping the ball.

Priam caught it mid-air and rose, a pensive look on his face.

"There's an issue with my Aura. It refuses to merge with my aether, as if it doesn't truly belong to me..."

The phoenix nodded. "It was a good idea and could have worked if you had developed it yourself."

"Is there a difference between an Aura I develop and one bestowed by the System?" Priam asked as the leg press melded back into the floor.

"Aura is tied to Micro. At higher levels, this Supremacy enables you to do more than just control your body perfectly. It uses your charisma and Story to charm, influence and persuade reality. How do you expect to impress the world when your Supremacy is under-leveled and Conquest reflects only a part of your past actions?"

"In any case, it's another failure," Priam shrugged.

"But you're making progress. Don't be discouraged; it's a daunting exercise you're attempting to master."

Priam stared at the phoenix before bursting into laughter. Was the hologram that had been so tough at the beginning of his training now trying to reassure him?

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be offensive, but... I never give up. Not before the Tutorial, not now," Priam said with a smile. "There's a solution out there, and every failure brings me closer to it."

The legendary bird looked back at him with a certain nostalgia. No one became a Prince without effort, and it was evidently proud of its past achievements. Yet, the phoenix was eager to see the young man succeed; he was its only hope.

"A good mindset… Well, what have you gained so far?"

"I must have gained a centimeter in arm circumference!" smiled Priam, feeling his biceps. "More seriously, my meta attributes haven't increased, but I'm using them better. The same goes for Domain; in fact, I'm progressing toward Domain II faster than I thought."

"Your racial Talent, [Ideal Aether Perception], and your numerous deaths have acquainted you with your soul space like few Tier 0s are. You're still far from it, but you have a real chance of improving your Supremacy to Tier 1," commented the phoenix.

Priam nodded as he reached his hand toward the flames, more to feel their warmth than to actually warm himself. "I've learned that my other Supremacies and Concepts won't help me solidify my aether." All his experiments with Spear Mastery had ended in resounding failures, and burning the aether with Pyro didn't work either. "I also know that I can't condense my aether any further; I would need higher meta attributes or an upgrade of [Aether Manipulation]. It's a catch-22 situation. Yet, it must be possible, otherwise you would have stopped me."

"Perhaps I was just trying to make you work on your aether mastery. You've made tremendous progress this past day, and you have a better understanding of the nature of primordial energy."

Though Priam had failed to solidify his aether, his progress was undeniable. Just as a sailor spending time at sea grows accustomed to it, Priam now had a nearly intimate knowledge of the fluid. It wasn't a Talent or a skill, but rather an instinct born of experience.

"In any case, I won't stop until I've exhausted all my ideas—and I have great hope for the next one," he said as he approached the flames. The two-day deadline was approaching, and Priam was determined to win his bet.

With a thought, he reduced the size of the portal to Concepts Archipelago to a point and stoked the campfire. As Champion of the Fire Concept, he could modify the properties of a fire and force it to produce more smoke.

Seeing the phoenix remain silent, Priam smiled. The bird had requested the creation of a fire in the center of the room to nestle in. According to the hologram, it allowed it to observe Priam more closely. The justification seemed odd. Perhaps there was another reason?

Over the past few hours, Priam had conversed with himself, replaying all his conversations with his coach in his mind. With the help of his add-on, he had dissected each phrase for clues. The oaths prevented the Prince from divulging certain secrets, but there were loopholes...

During a final conversation about [Bloodless], the phoenix had hinted that the Title was part of the Five Tortures, along with [Heartless] and [Brainless]. Logically, there were two other Titles ending in -less that every phoenix child unlocked by using their power of resurrection.

[Spiritless] wasn't one of them—the basic rebirth of phoenixes only healed their body—but the bird had given him a clue. "Don't waste your breath," he had said as Priam asked questions locked by its oaths. 

The young man had immediately realized that a Title rewarded those who survived without breathing. He had planned to suffocate himself before returning to Valaryth to hunt draconic trophies necessary for tempering his body. Diving without fear of drowning was essential for that. But perhaps he should change the order of his plans?

Smoke began to fill the room, and Priam began to cough.

"I'm going to suffocate myself. It'll be good for [Asphyxia Resistance] and [Poison Body]. I guess I need to maximize this skill before the Snaherts help me get an ideal upgrade..."

"I didn't ask you anything," remarked the phoenix.

"I know," said Priam between coughing fits. "But with my vitality, it'll take me several minutes to die, and I find it a bit of a shame to be the only one suffering."

"So you're aware that you're a pain to listen to," the phoenix pointed out.

"Another thing we have in common," Priam retorted.

The bird harrumphed.

"... And once you've unlocked [Breathless]?" he asked as the young man gasped for breath.

So that's what the fourth Torture is called.

"I suppose it'll modify my lungs. I hope it affects the draconic ones too."

Priam's Breath was created using a third spiritual lung. The organ condensed energy before releasing it in a destructive form. Priam had managed to charge it with flames and even kinetic energy, but today, he wanted to compress his aether to the maximum without causing Log-a-rhythm to explode.

"You want to use this lung to do what you can't do with just your mind, attributes, and Domain, " the phoenix said. "That's not what I had in mind."

Dizzy, Priam fell to the ground and then took another deep breath. His vitality could have allowed him to resist longer, but he was using Micro to force his lungs to absorb as much smoke as possible. The wood’s incomplete combustion created carbon monoxide, a toxic gas that would bind to the hemoglobin in the blood, preventing the vital fluid from carrying oxygen. 

Priam wasn't just suffocating; he was actively asphyxiating himself, hoping to achieve a better title than [Breathless].

"It would have been a shame to make a breakthrough without dying. It's almost a tradition for me," he smiled, breathing heavily. His vision was beginning to blur. "You yourself said I should use the advantages I have over you. My draconic bloodline is my trump card."

As his lungs burned, Priam's brain lost consciousness. [Tenacious Spirit] allowed him to remain conscious for a few more seconds.

"Your strength isn't your bloodlines; it's your dream of freedom," the hologram whispered. "I feared death too much to be free. That’s why I succumbed to the Depths..."

*

Status:

PHYSICAL:
Strength 707 (+45)
Constitution 1 096 (+39)
Agility 614 
Vitality 932
Perception 760

MENTAL:
Vivacity (D) 552
Dexterity 622
Memory 754 (+27)
Willpower 1 134
Charisma 661

META:
Meta-affinity 708 (+19)
Meta-focus 393
Meta-endurance 528 (+13)
Meta-perception 321
Meta-chance 274
Meta-authority 171 (+15)

Potential: 13 567 (-198)
Tier 0

Sun points: 680 318 (+4 580)

[He Who Eludes Death] charge: PRIMED

[Tribulation]: Five Tribulations pending.
Future Tribulations delayed until:
Time: 158 days 4 hours 7 minutes 18 seconds.

Next thresholds: 12 attributes > 600 / 6 attributes > 900 / 1 attribute > 1 200