The room itself is somewhat bland décor wise, but what really makes it stand out is the size of the place. It’s about a football field in length, width and height, making for a giant cube of a room that really shouldn’t even be able to fit inside the building.
‘I’ll just chalk it up to that fancy spatial magic I learned about.’ I say to myself.
Walking inside, I find about twenty or so people, each one at a different spot in the room. The assistant let me know that the further I travel into the room, the more intense the gravity becomes. From one point one times all the way to twenty times.
Surprisingly, I see the male prospect from earlier, with the black tattoo on his face, all the way at the end pf the room, with no one even coming close to him.
‘Holy shit! That guy’s a maniac! How do even manage to do that?!’ I think as I watch him practice some sort of martial arts as if he wasn’t affected by the gravity at all.
Not wanting to waste any more time, I begin to walk forward. I start at one point one times. While I do feel a small difference, I can easily go further.
I take one more step into one point two, which still isn’t enough to get me to feel anything.
This continues all the way until I reach one point nine. At that point, moving is becoming difficult and I need to spend a considerable amount of effort for even the smallest of movements.
I decide that this is a good place to give it a go, and with that I begin my training in earnest, bringing out my sword and practice my basic movements.
Almost immediately I begin to sweat buckets, doing my best to control my movements as precisely as possible.
After an hour, I make my way towards the rest area with heavy steps, bathing in the relief I feel when I finally reach normal gravity.
My current state can only be described as sorry. With my hair stuck directly to my head with sweat, and my clothes looking like I just came out of a swimming pool.
Seeing the people around me with minimal clothes, I’m guessing that most people elect not to ruin their clothes in such a way every time they enter, which makes sense all things considered.
I take off my shirt and slowly recuperate my stamina for a few minutes. Seeing as I managed to gain a whole mastery level doing this, I must be doing something right. As the old-world used to say, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’
So with that I head back in for round two, I decide that I should lower the difficulty a tad, just so that I can actually make it for another two hours.
I swing my sword over and over, each swing harder than the last, but still I persist, unwilling to allow myself to give up.
‘Man this is awesome! This is just like the good ol’ days back home! Training like it was nobody’s business!’ I think as I continue to find my rhythm.
Finally, I end my little training session almost immediately after receiving those two notification. At the point, I’ve been going for close to three and a half hour total. Most everyone who was here when I when I arrived is long gone, except for that prospect who is still exercising like it’s nothing in the twenty times zone.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Sensing my gaze, he looks up from his training and sees me staring at him. His face shows a hint of surprise, assumedly at the fact that I’m still here, and he nods to me.
I nod back before grabbing my shirt from the rest area and leaving the gym entirely.
‘Man this place is great! I’ve made more gains here today than I would have in almost a week of training on Earth!’
With that being done, I make my way back to my room, shower, and head over the food court for the second time today, this time hopefully less eventful than the first.
As soon as I enter, I notice the sheer quantity of people in the court. Granted it is around dinner time, so it really shouldn’t be surprising, but it still baffles me how large this place is sometimes.
I grab sort of stew along with a small loaf of purple bread, and look around for a seat. As I do, People all around me continue to look at me, but this time instead of angry glares, I seem to be getting a wide variety of looks.
Some very openly hostile, some curious, even a few friendly smiles here and there. It seems everyone has figured out their opinion of me already. It’s really quite unfair because I know literally none of these people, and I guarantee they don’t know me. All they know is I had a public spout with that Kitania person, and I had a spar with Regalius, though I suppose that’s just how it is around here, for better or for worse.
‘Hopefully when I actually become a full-time prospect things will be at least a bit better. Eventually I spot Regalius at a table with a small group of people around him at a table, all with heavy mugs in their hands.
Spotting me, he gives me a friendly smile before beckoning me over. The group at the table, all wondering what Regalius is looking at, all see me and like the rest of the crowd, a variety of looks pass over their face.
The group itself is quite eclectic in terms of race, size, and shape, but one thing they all have in common is that they look tough, dirty, and gritty.
I walk up to the group just as Regalius introduces me.
“Fellas, this here’s Rowan as I’m sure you’ve heard. Don’t let the rumors going around about him fool ya, he’s a good guy!” He says as everyone at the table looks at me to get my measure.
“Uh yeah, thanks. Yeah I don’t know what you’ve heard about me, but it’s probably not true.” I say, wondering how Regalius could possible determine if I’m a good guy or not considering we’ve only had one interaction that could be considered neutral at best.
“Yeah? What about all that talk of the silver spoon you’ve had your whole life huh? You tellin me you’re not rich, cause by looks of it, you’ve got rich kid screaming all over you.” A dwarf says while glaring at me.
“Uh nope, actually quite the opposite if anything. I come from the slums on a backwater planet so it’d be tough to consider myself rich, though recently I’ve had a bit of a lucky streak in terms of making connections.” I say while nervously scratching the back of my head and finally taking the seat in front of me.
“That so…” the dwarf says, clearly not convinced.
“Oh please, no need to be so wary. Rowan, these guys are all the company’s mechanics. This whole system runs thanks to them.” He says while waving his finger around us.
The group then swells with pride at that, with grunts, laughs and cheers resounding through the group of ten or so men and women.
“Really sounds hard.” I say genuinely.
“Your damn right it’s hard! But with what this place is payin, it’s damn worth it if you ask me!” A green humanoid that I assume to be a Janin says while laugh boisterously.
With that I’m promptly told various times about how hard their job is but how much they love it anyway. I swear it’s like they have Stockholm syndrome or something.
I manage to finish my meal quietly, luckily not having to interact with people too much, though I do give a few nods here and there when people ask me something.
At the same time, Regalius interacts with the group as if he’s just like them, a mechanic at a large organization with a tough job but a good, honest living. He blends in so well in fact, that it’s almost scary.
Eventually the group all head off, ready to head home for the day and one by one, the table clears out until it’s just me and Regalius left.
“Man how the hell do you do it? Those guys loved you, it’s like you guys have been friends for years.” I ask him, curiously about his wicked and twisted ways.
“Ha! It’s not hard! You just gotta treat them with respect, and in turn you shall receive respect! You’re overcomplicating things my friend! Plus, the more people I get to know now, the easier my integration will be into this organization when I inevitably pass tomorrow’s test!” He says, smiling from ear to ear.
“Uh huh.” I say, clearly not convinced, “What makes you so sure you’re gonna pass anyway?” I ask.
“Well I’m an actual rank 2 talent, for starters. The main purpose of this test is to test whether a person really is a rank 2 talent or if they’re lying. Also, while you may have beaten me in today’s battle, that wasn’t even close to my full capabilities. Some people even like to call me a rank 1 talent, though I still believe I have a bit to go before I can call myself that.”
A few moments of silence pass before I finally say,
“Man you’re awfully chatty huh.” I say with a smirk.
Regalius stares at me for a few seconds, clearly processing the fact that I made a joke, before dying of laughter, slapping his knee and all.
“Man, I knew you were a good guy! You’ll do great tomorrow, I’m sure of it my friend!” He says, still wiping his eyes from laughter.
“Yeah, I sure hope you’re right about that…”