Priam
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Chapter 227: Saiyan Training
🕑 Added 2024-05-10 15:20:16 +0000 UTCA few hours late, sorry! Doesn't change anything for the next chapter which is due Sunday 12th!
We're starting the time ellipsis and the second part of the Elysium arc.
Enjoy!
*
A fire crackled.
As wisps of smoke curled through the air, the bright flames battled against the gentle darkness, casting flickering shadows across the room. Unfazed by this dance, a man performed push-ups with closed eyes. Almost touching the floor, he breathed deeply as he pushed back up.
His bulging muscles and prominent veins proved that the effort was not simulated. Despite his immense attributes, the hypergravity made the exercise challenging. Repetition didn't bother the man. [Focus] banished all unnecessary thoughts while Micro coerced his brain to release endorphins. Despite the daunting difficulty, he sported a grin.
He was free to ascend towards the Zenith.
Like a passionate athlete, Priam compelled his body to move, pushing his body through a series of exercises, targeting every muscle group. The regimen planned by his System took into account attributes nearing the sixth threshold of Tribulation. His strength and agility were far from maximized.
His absolute sensory memory reminded him of the exact movements learned from Kazuki, and his dexterity, along with Micro, assisted in their execution. Push-ups, sit-ups, squats, burpees, pull-ups, dips, handstands, hyperextensions, planks—Priam rotated through exercises, constantly challenging different muscles. When the strain became too much, he lowered the gravity to give his muscles time to develop. His remarkable vitality, boosted by the sap of Log-a-rhythm and Blueberry's protein-rich meals, helped him rapidly develop new muscle fibers.
Only four hours into his training, the extreme intensity coupled with Priam's high attributes yielded results:
Lvl Up: [Revelation Resilience] lvl 27
MEM +3
META (Affinity) +3
META (Authority) +3
Lvl Up: [Gymnastics] lvl 16, 17, 18
AGI +3
Lvl Up : [Gravity Resistance] lvl 16
CONST +3
Lvl Up: [Fitness] lvl 20
STR +1
[Fitness] has reached level 20, its maximum level as a common skill. Depending on your background, three upgrades are available:
[Calisthenics - Rare] - You have endured numerous high-intensity fitness workouts without equipment. Future upgrades possible. Potential Cost: 10
[Crossfit - Rare] - You have endured numerous high-intensity fitness workouts with equipment. Future upgrades possible. Potential Cost: 10
[Inhuman Workout - Rare] - You have endured numerous high-intensity fitness workouts under gravity exceeding 50G. Impressive. High upgrade potential. Potential Cost: 20
As Priam read the notifications, a smile crept onto his lips. An ordinary human would struggle to unlock high upgrades, but his attributes, Titles, and abilities enabled him to collect them effortlessly.
You have selected the skill [Inhuman Workout - Rare].
POT-20
[Inhuman Workout] - Trained by a legendary hoplite instructor, you master exercises impossible for a human. You seek the pressure of high gravity to sculpt a perfect physique.
This skill allows you to feel when your physical exercises are executed properly. It optimizes synapse creation during high-gravity exercises, enhancing muscle memory development.
Like a renowned Saiyan, you push your body's limits to enhance your power.
STR +3
With a smile, Priam increased the gravity and resumed his push-up routine. Sensing slight discomfort, he subtly adjusted his hand position and opened his lungs further. The sensation vanished, indicating flawless execution. His muscles worked more efficiently, reducing the risk of injury.
Of course, there could be no guarantees when the gravity was so intense. A deeper crack than that of the logs echoed through the room, and Priam furrowed his brow. His left clavicle had just given way.
Managing to finish his push-up, Priam sat cross-legged. His bones, ligaments, and tendons endured strain while his muscles tore slowly. Testing his injury, he felt pain. The hypergravity bore heavily on his left shoulder, exacerbating the injury and causing internal bleeding.
[Thick Blood] began to stem the blood loss, but Priam couldn't risk aggravating the injury by allowing the broken bone to sever other arteries. This would lead to further hemorrhaging, slowing his training. He invoked [Three-Headed Hydra]'s daily heal. The multiple fractures and cracks that crippled his body began to heal as the legendary hydra's vitality temporarily flooded him.
With a sigh of relief, Priam refocused on Micro. The Supremacy allowed him to monitor his vital signs and understand his body better. He sensed [Sun Steel Body] was on the verge of leveling up. He hadn't yet decided on all the eight resistances he would choose as anchors for Heavenly Dragon, but this one was a sure thing.
It wasn't a coincidence his add-on suggested training under high gravity. Of course, it was one of Sphinx's powers, and his friend would appreciate the poetic aspect of the situation. However, besides this homage and his nostalgia for DragonBall, his Assistant deemed gravity ideal for simultaneously strengthening his body's resistance to compression, tension, and bending.
Only Deep Pressure Trap was as comprehensive, but Priam needed to breathe too frequently to consider it. Thus, he had purchased Gravity Trap IV for ninety thousand Sun Points and had no regrets.
Priam resumed push-ups, excited for the next level-up. As gravity punished his body, [Sun Steel Body] finally leveled up:
Lvl Up : [Gravity Resistance] lvl 17
CONST +3
Lvl Up: [Sun Steel Body] lvl 3
CONST +6
META (Endurance) +3
Constitution exceeds 1 000 points. Second milestone reached. Congratulations!
"[Sun Steel Body] just leveled up, and my constitution has surpassed the second milestone!"
"Perfect. It'll help you sense the world's influence on your body," replied the Prince from the campfire in the room's center.
On the gravity trap’s white list, the fire served as an anchor for the phoenix to observe Priam. This was possible due to a portal opening to the Concept Archipelago on the ceiling. Looking up, Priam could see the mini sun of his internal world.
"That's rather disappointing."
"I'd call you an idiot, but I had more or less the same thought back in the day. My teacher quickly changed my mind: close your eyes and focus on Micro."
Priam complied, feeling the Supremacy overlaying his body. With a thought, he could move or overclock his muscles. He sensed the blood flow in his veins, the air entering his lungs—accompanied by a faint smoke from the campfire—and the gravity's effect on his cells. [Sun Steel Body] and [Gravity Resistance] were fighting against the fundamental interaction, fortifying the connection between his cells and adapting their architecture.
"I can feel the gravity," he murmured. Previously, he was aware that it was attacking him because he had purchased the Gravity Trap and had felt the increase in his own weight. What had been a deduction was now a certainty. "I can even feel my resistances fighting the phenomenon! The milestone will help me identify what's attacking me."
"It'll be tough to poison you without you noticing now," confirmed the phoenix. "But remember, it only works if you have a resistance covering the damage you're receiving."
If lightning struck Priam, he'd just feel pain, and his new ability would remain silent because he lacked [Electric Resistance]. Another reason to unlock more resistances.
Priam's smile faltered as he saw his constitution continuing to climb towards twelve hundred. He'd soon have to seal the attribute with his Potential.
"However, I've already gained two levels in [Gravity Resistance]. Maybe I should change my training method..."
The resistance wasn't useless, but Priam didn't plan to incorporate it into Heavenly Dragon, and the constitution boost dangerously neared a sixth Tribulation.
"Hypergravity acts uniformly on your body. It's an excellent way to avoid future blockages."
Priam briefly opened his eyes to cast a bewildered look at the phoenix, who sighed.
"You know the System doesn't reward skill spamming. An active skill evolves in a certain direction based on the tricks and knowledge you acquire; you used [Kinetic Control] to master thermal energy, but another user could have focused on frames of reference."
Priam pondered the possibilities of an ideal Legendary skill like [Reference frames Control]. An object was always in motion relative to another. With Earth swiftly rotating, any stationary object could become a kinetic weapon if immobilized while the planet continued its dance.
"Interesting... So, what you're saying is I should always push the limits of my skills to prevent them from stagnating? Even those I don't aim to get an ideal upgrade for?"
Priam had never suffered blockages in leveling up a skill. Facing enemies much stronger than him forced him to be creative.
"Indeed, and it's the same for resistances: they modify your body, and until it's fully reshaped, don't expect to get a good upgrade."
It was easy to advance [Sun Steel Body], the evolution of [Blunt resistance], by taking hits, but it wouldn't uniformly reshape his organs. Gravity could.
Priam nodded and focused on the fundamental force, feeling its effects and enduring its torture. At rank four, the ritual added at most sixteen times artificial gravity to the already elevated ambient gravity. With his own weight multiplied by seventeen, Priam's body was on the verge of breaking.
It was excellent for his progression.
Priam resumed his exercises, ensuring not to injure himself again. Silence enveloped the room.
*
Lvl Up: [Sun Steel Body] lvl 4, 5
CONST +12
META (Endurance) +6
Lvl Up : [Gravity Resistance] lvl 18, 19
CONST +6
Lvl Up: [Inhuman Workout] lvl 2, 3, 4, 5
STR +12
Meta Endurance exceeds 500 points. First milestone reached. Congratulations!
Ignoring the notification, Priam continued his set of pull-ups. A tree capable of conjuring any simple wooden object was a godsend for any athlete.
Two hours had passed, and nothing had changed in the room except for the new logs fueling the fire and the presence of an almost empty meal tray. Generating new muscle fibers demanded substantial nutritional intake; the two birds prepared by Blueberry had been devoured.
After finishing his exercise, Priam took a moment to assess his body. A smile lit up his face. The first milestone of meta endurance increased the resilience of his meridians. It was good news on its own, but it was made even better by its synergy with the first merit of [Bloodless]: his veins and arteries were even more resilient.
A satisfied smile on his face, Priam refocused on his training. Minutes turned into hours, and his body transformed under the torture. [Homo Elysian Obsession] coupled with [Life is hard; I’m harder] fortified him. Gradually, the punishment became more bearable; his bones grew sturdier, his tendons and ligaments more elastic, and his muscles denser.
While part of his attention was on the exercise, a parallel thought explored his own capabilities. The combination of Micro, his absolute sensory memory, and the second milestone of constitution allowed him to feel his body's progress. Knowing precisely the difficulty felt during each exercise with his resistances’ feedback, Priam could compare the past and present to gauge his progression.
Even without seeing his attributes increase through the System's notifications, he felt his body toughen.
This sense of progression enabled him to tolerate the torment he inflicted upon himself. Beyond that, he was also aware that tough times called for tough men. It was a physical law: carbon could be both a pencil lead and a diamond, but only the extreme conditions deep within the Earth allowed the gemstone to form.
Priam wanted to shine and was ready to endure the pain for it.
Lvl Up : [Gravity Resistance] lvl 20
CONST +3
"If this keeps up, I'll surpass the next Tribulation threshold before I've made [Sun Steel Body] Legendary," grumbled Priam.
"Because of the level-ups of [Gravity Resistance]?"
Priam merely nodded. Speaking was difficult, and he preferred not to waste his breath.
"It could be a good thing. System descriptions almost always contain clues. Sun steel is a metal forged at the core of certain extremely massive stars, where gravity is extreme. My clan cultivates one of these stars to harvest this metal." Priam's eyes widened at this revelation. "Moreover, these two resistances strengthen you against the same internal forces—compression, tension, bending. I wouldn't be surprised if their fusion is one of the prerequisites for the ideal upgrade of [Sun Steel Body]."
The argument was solid and resonated with Priam. The young warrior closed his eyes and smiled as he imagined a new ideal Legendary skill supporting his temperance.
*
Lvl Up: [Revelation Resilience] lvl 28
MEM +3
META (Affinity) +3
META (Authority) +3
Lvl Up: [Sun Steel Body] lvl 6, 7
CONST +12
META (Endurance) +6
Lvl Up : [Gravity Resistance] lvl 21, 22
CONST +6
Lvl Up: [Inhuman Workout] lvl 6, 7, 8, 9
STR +12
Lvl Up: [Gymnastics] lvl 19
AGI +1
Five hours later, Priam was on his fourth meal of the day. He had briefly deactivated the Gravity Trap after his first dish turned into mush. With his attributes, he still managed to enjoy to enjoy the crunchy paste of the pulverized meat and splintered bone bits.
"Exercises have become a habit; I don't really need to fully focus on them anymore," he said between bites. He had no intention of stopping because an intimate knowledge of his body was necessary to temper it. "I’ll use my second parallel thought to work on my aether proficiency."
"What exercise will you practice?" replied the phoenix through the portal leading to his internal world.
Priam tapped the ground, causing it to ripple before giving birth to a small wooden bead. Thanks Log.
About the size of a finger phalanx, the orb was perfectly smooth. "According to Esmée, a fairly common training is to levitate this kind of bead. It seems pretty simple, but by increasing their number and under hypergravity, I think it'll make a good exercise."
Priam felt he was close to the high upgrade for [Aether Manipulation]. Once obtained, he would finally begin his tempering.
"How do you plan to make them levitate?"
"By injecting my aether inside. Do you have a better idea?"
The phoenix remained silent for a few moments before adopting a neutral tone. "You could also surround the bead with a layer of aether."
"That would be much harder; my aether naturally takes the form of mist. I can condense it to make it liquid, but..." Priam paused. The phoenix hadn't suggested that for nothing. Lifting these beads was an exercise aimed at improving his aether proficiency. Going against his natural inclinations was necessary to progress.
Counterintuitively, an optimized way of lifting the orb wouldn't optimize his training.
"I'll try to create an aether shell to lift it," declared Priam. The phoenix remained silent, likely bound by its oaths. The exercise seemed simple, but perhaps it was a secret of the great clans.
Pushing aside the half-finished meal tray, Priam coated the small sphere with a layer of aether and attempted to lift it. The primordial fluid slid over the sphere and soared away, leaving a motionless bead in his hand.
"The goal of the exercise is to make the bead levitate, not to caress it," mocked the firebird.
Despite his failure, Priam smiled. Moving matter was harder than expected, but his instinct whispered to him that solidifying his aether would qualify him for the high upgrade.
"Very funny. How long did it take you to solidify your aether?"
"Two days," confessed the phoenix.
Priam's smile widened. "Watch me demonstrate the power of my obsession."
*
Status:
PHYSICAL:
Strength 662 (+42)
Constitution 1 057 (+66)
Agility 614 (+6)
Vitality 932
Perception 760
MENTAL:
Vivacity (D) 552
Dexterity 622
Memory 727 (+11)
Willpower 1 134
Charisma 661
META:
Meta-affinity 689 (+8)
Meta-focus 393
Meta-endurance 515 (+21)
Meta-perception 321
Meta-chance 274
Meta-authority 156 (+6)
Potential: 13 765 (+38)
Tier 0
Sun points: 765 738 (+1 784)
[He Who Eludes Death] charge: PRIMED
[Tribulation]: Five Tribulations pending.
Future Tribulations delayed until:
Time: 159 days 17 hours 50 minutes 40 seconds.
Next thresholds: 12 attributes > 600 / 6 attributes > 900 / 1 attribute > 1 200
Comments
Pickled Rick
Suggestions With his attributes, he still managed to enjoy to enjoy the crunchy paste of the pulverized meat and splintered bone bits. - remove repeat words
Nicolas
Just after gymnastic reaches lvl 19 you wrote “to enjoy to enjoy”. Guessing this was an a mistake.
Suyash Agarwal
Priam has wanted to have the power to create a star, it can be considered another one of his wishes that made him chose the dragon bloodline and heavenly dragon. Words have power and meaning. Sun steal could possibly be a step towards that direction.
Jimmeuht
xD
Shadow Korosu
His only solution then is to get his Constitution as maxed out as he can without breaching the threshold, and using Potential to seal it until he raises the cap.
Zaim İpek
Speaking of combining skills, he will probably combine all the resistances related to force into a single Mythical ranked skill eventually. Or if he manages to get ideal upgrades for enough of them as well as using some kind of quest reward and/or maybe investing in the right merit trees he could combine them into an ideal mythic skill. I think he definitely has potential to get higher than Legendary, especially if he gains more insight into his resistances and uses his aether manipulation and spends some potential to take an active role in combining the skills.
Zaim İpek
That must be what happened. Understandable, but boring. The drama unleashed by such an announcement would have been fun.
I'm here to eat your toes
you can just not broadcast that, its a choice and powermove to do it
Ihsan Gunay
Lmao dude did you change the due date hahaha 😂
Ihsan Gunay
Skills get a mini bonus boost halfway through for a small pot cost.
Zaim İpek
I'm still waiting for the announcement that the envoy was killed. Did they somehow keep it private?
Zaim İpek
His True Will is a legendary skill, but it's level is not nearly high enough to upgrade yet.
John Isaac Mahaffey
Isn't it Common - 20, Rare - 40, Epic - 60? And I don't think he's gotten a Legendary skill to upgrade yet, but if the pattern holds, they would be 80, and Mythic would be 100.
Zaim İpek
Crossfit made me laugh because it's a very specific company brand of fitness training. It's like Zoomba being a rare skill. Calisthenics is a much more general term for exercise using only bodyweight that can include rock climbing, gymnastics, etc.
PriÀm
Interesting! I'll check it out
PriÀm
He didn't say anything about pushing it for the fulcrum, juste for Heavenly Dragon! You're right, but the temperance is a gradual process, so... I won't say more!
PriÀm
Corrected!
BelligerentGnu
Calisthenics and crossfit: least impressive rare skills ever.
Ihsan Gunay
I don’t get why he is pushing sun steel body for the fulcrum. Revelation resilience is both easier to safely level and unlock an ideal upgrade with all the diverse divining abilities he is training against. He could be an elusive tribulation dragon! It would also mesh well with his mist concept. Also, his limited const budget would be better utilized with upgrading more epic ideal resistances. Atomos and Kevlar tissue were both great candidates and probably could combine into a great skill.
Zaim İpek
I just read about an interesting long-term hypergravity study done on rats. Kept about 3g or 3x Earth gravity for eight months it seems that the rats aged faster and had a roughly 9% reduced total lifespan from the control group. I'm curious what it would have been if the rats were put in such high gravity for their entire lifespan. It might not be possible due to pregnancy complications, but I wonder how much the lifespan would be reduced simply by living on a higher gravity planet. With Priam's new sensitivity to what is affecting his body, I wonder if he can feel the gravity accelerating his ageing and shortening his lifespan as all his systems work harder to maintain function. I just thought this was cool and worth sharing. If the effect increases linearly, 6g for 8 months should reduce lifespan by 18%, 9g for 8 months should reduce it by 27%, etc. But that's just speculation since we don't have any hard data. If you choose to incorporate that, you can just make up the numbers since nobody knows the actual numbers, and any experiments to find out would be inhumane and probably get shutdown quickly for animal abuse.
Lijwent
There are monsters, and then there is Priam
Lijwent
Won't it automatically trigger at like 6?
Dungeonborn
Aren’t there skill boni to select every 20 levels?
Zaim İpek
Other than gravity, he has a few more options for things that can holistically challenge his body and help his development. An extremely cold environment with active cooling instead of passive cooling (using lasers at very specific frequencies or atomic bombardment at the exact equal frequency and opposite phase of his own atoms to cancel his thermal energy.) Also already mentioned is electricity. Exposing his body to extreme DC and AC voltages of single, dual, and triple phase would be a great way to train. Vibration exposure under pressure, such as being under water or simply high atmospheric pressure would be highly effective. Reading about how effectively shockwaves travel underwater and are deadly from much larger distances than through air was inspiring. Finally radiation exposure of all wavelengths from Gamma radiation to infrared would be really good for him (good in that it will destroy his body holistically rather than target only a few specific parts. Broad spectrum radiation poisoning would destroy every single part of his body evenly.) The effects on bone marrow are the most interesting to me. I can't think of another external attack that can directly target bones and marrow. And if Sunsteel is the target, radiation will be a huge factor when considering the conditions inside a star.
bcd051
I was listening to "You're The Best Around" during this chapter... gotta have a montage song
Ihsan Gunay
Shouldn’t gravity resistance get a boost selection at level 20 as a rare skill?
Pievalley
Awesome stuff! Tftc
Ihsan Gunay
If Priam is pushing for the legendary sun steel body, 6th tribulation is guaranteed if he doesn’t trigger it before the tempering. Even without gravity resistance it’s more than 300 const until lv 60.
Andrew
Thank you!
Zaim İpek
Very nice! On the subject of stats with room for improvement, Perception and Meta-perception both have very much room for improvement and would be a massive boost to all of his abilities. The better he can sense, the better he can react, the better he can target, the more precisely he can adjust, etc. Everything is enhanced by better senses. It should also make it more difficult to overwhelm and damage his senses with light that's too bright or sounds that are two loud. Having senses with huge dynamic range could let him sense a tiny and faint presence of an assassin's attack in the middle of a battle surrounded by massive explosions. It's like being able to notice the slight warmth given off by a person's body while in the middle of an erupting volcano or being able to hear a mosquito 5m away while directly next to an active jet engine. I can already imagine how transformative this would be for his physical senses, but I am more curious of what this would mean for his aether perception since we don't yet fully understand how that works or what is possible. There is much more room for creativity with his meta-perception.
Derze
@Priam ; Meta endurance crossed 500 based on the notification on the chapter, but the summary shows at 492
IdolTrust
His tribulations is going to be a world record because the insane training like 6-8
Prem Chanumalla
YESSS
Amazon Shopper
looking forward to the end of the montage! who needs sensu beans when u got hydra blood running through your veins?
_mori
In an odd turn of events, MEM has passed vivacity. Also, his meta endurance surpassed 500 in the chapter but the status at the end has it below the threshold
James Faulkner
So good, Priam is gonna be a MONSTER after this. Tftc!
I'm here to eat your toes
a few hours lol, when i read the last time hoping for Wednesday but might be Thursday, i immediately went yup that is gonna be Friday, but no worries lol i except this at this point. so see you in 2 days for the next chapter lmao
Wanderer
First? I was faster than Discord!
