Chapter 34: Training room
This time, Selene didn’t lead him to the usual training room.
Adam noticed as soon as they left the guild’s main hall.
Instead of taking the corridor leading to the regular training grounds, she descended a wider staircase, guarded by two heavily armed adventurers.
The two women immediately greeted Selene.
"Guild Master."
Selene simply nodded.
Adam looked around.
"Where exactly are we going?"
"To a special room."
Adam slowed down slightly.
"Special how?"
Selene smiled without turning around.
"You’ll see."
"Every time someone says that, I suffer afterward."
"You learn fast."
"That wasn’t a compliment to you."
Selene laughed softly.
They arrived in front of a huge black door covered in silver runes.
Adam immediately sensed a strange energy emanating from it.
It wasn’t just mana.
It was a mixture of spatial magic, earth magic, gravity, and several layers of protection.
His World Eyes reacted instantly.
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Eyes of the World
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Item: Runegate
Function: Access to a special training chamber
Primary Creator: Vespera Drakharis
Structure: Advanced Spatial Magic
Danger: Controlled
Warning: Physical Imbalance Possible
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Adam stared at the last line.
"Possible physical imbalance..."
Selene placed her hand on the door.
"Vespera built this room several years ago. Very few people can use it properly."
"Why?"
The door opened slowly.
"Because most people vomit before the end of the first session."
Adam remained silent.
"I could live without that information."
Selene entered first.
Adam took a deep breath, then followed her.
The room was enormous.
Much too big to fit under the guild.
The spatial magic clearly enlarged the space, just like in Vespera’s research room.
But here, the atmosphere was different.
Harder.
More physical.
More aggressive.
The floor was composed of thousands of tiles of varying shapes and sizes.
Some were as large as tables.
Others were barely wide enough to place a foot on.
A few tiles were already floating above the ground.
Others were slowly tilting.
Some disappeared briefly before reappearing further away.
Adam surveyed the room with immediate suspicion.
"I don’t like this floor."
Selene smiled.
"You’re right. It won’t like you either."
She had barely finished speaking when a wave rippled across the surface of the room.
The tiles rose and fell as if the floor had become liquid.
Adam instinctively took a step back.
The slab beneath his foot sank suddenly.
He nearly fell.
Selene, on the other hand, remained perfectly steady.
"This room is used to work on balance, reflexes, adapting to the terrain, and reacting under pressure."
Adam slowly got to his feet.
"And here I was thinking yesterday’s training session was already brutal."
"Yesterday’s was just an introduction."
Adam looked at her.
"You know you just said something terrifying?"
"Yes."
She pointed to the floor.
"Here, nothing is fixed. The tiles can rise, fall, float, tilt, or collapse without warning. Their size can change. Their position, too. Some are solid. Others disappear if you lean on them for too long."
Adam stared around the room.
"So it’s impossible to predict exactly where to put your feet."
"Exactly."
She then raised her hand toward a red crystal fixed to the wall.
"And that’s not all."
Adam closed his eyes.
"Of course it’s not all."
Selene activated the crystal.
The runes on the walls glowed instantly.
A strange pressure settled over Adam’s body.
Then it disappeared.
Then it returned stronger.
Then, suddenly, his body became almost weightless.
He felt his feet lift slightly off the ground before gravity returned with a vengeance.
He had to drop to one knee to keep from falling.
"What was that?"
"Gravitational variation."
Selene spoke with insolent calm.
"The room can alter gravity within a defined range. For today, it will range from zero to twice normal gravity."
Adam slowly raised his head.
"Zero to twice?"
"Yes."
"And when does it change?"
"Every second."
He remained motionless.
"Every second."
"Yes."
"While we’re fighting?"
"Yes."
Adam looked at the door.
"Does running away now count as dodging practice?" "
Selene laughed.
"No."
She threw a training sword at him.
Adam caught it instinctively.
The next second, gravity dropped almost to zero.
His arm rose too high.
Then gravity returned violently.
The sword almost slipped from his grasp.
Selene smiled.
"First objective: keep your weapon."
Adam gripped the hilt.
"I thought that meant staying upright."
"That’s the second objective."
"And surviving?"
"The third."
"The order of priorities seems questionable."
Selene assumed a fighting stance.
"Then prove you can handle all three."
She attacked.
Adam tried to back away.
But the slab behind him tilted sharply.
His foot slipped.
He barely managed to raise his sword.
CLANG!
The impact threw him off balance even more.
Another slab erupted beneath his heel, propelling him slightly forward.
Selene was already there.
The flat of her sword struck his shoulder.
"Dead."
Adam gritted his teeth.
"Already?"
"Yes."
"It hasn’t even been ten seconds."
"Eight."
"Thanks for the humiliating precision."
They started again.
This time, Adam tried not to just look at Selene.
He also looked at the ground.
Mistake.
Selene immediately took advantage of this distraction to strike his side.
BAM!
Adam rolled onto a floating slab, which tipped under his weight.
He fell heavily to the ground.
"Don’t stare at the ground," Selene said.
Adam struggled to his feet.
"But the ground is trying to kill me."
"Exactly. You have to feel it, not look at it."
She pointed to her chest.
"Your body has to learn before your mind."
Adam remained silent.
Then he understood.
His eyes were giving him too much information.
The ground, Selene, gravity, the slabs, his weapon, his stance...
He tried to consciously analyze everything.
It was too slow.
He had to let Mana Body do the work.
Adam closed his eyes for a second.
He circulated his mana through his legs, his hips, his back, and his shoulders.
He didn’t try to control every movement.
Instead, he tried to feel the variations.
Pressure beneath his feet.
Body weight.
Tilt of the ground.
Muscle tension.
Mana flow.
When he opened his eyes again, a new wave was already crashing through the slabs.
This time, instead of fighting it, he went with the flow.
His body flexed.
His center of gravity dropped.
The slab tilted.
He pivoted with it.
Selene attacked.
Adam didn’t block head-on.
He let the lower gravity lighten his arm, deflected the blow, then used the next pressure to stabilize his legs.
Selene smiled.
"There."
Adam gasped.
"There what?"
"You’re starting to understand."
She attacked again.
The fight became more intense.
Adam kept falling.
Often.
Very often.
But each fall was different.
Once, he fell because his foot stayed too long on a slab that disappeared.
Another time, because he tried to jump just as gravity increased.
Yet another time, because a slab floated too high and broke his angle of attack.
But little by little, his body adapted.
Mana’s Body corrected his movements.
Strong Body absorbed the impacts.
Sword Mastery transformed his reactions into cleaner parries.
Boundary signaled his limits.
And Eyes of the World sometimes offered him brief fragments of information about the runes on the ground.
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Boundary
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Boundary detected:
Balance dependent on a fixed ground.
Possible correction:
Distribute mana across your stances.
Reduce large movements.
Favor low stances.
Go with the flow rather than counter it.
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Adam read the window in a fraction of a second.
"Go with the flow instead of countering..."
Selene arrived in front of him.
He dodged her attack by letting his body follow the slope of a descending slab.
His foot almost slipped.
But instead of resisting, he transformed the movement into a rotation.
His sword rose toward Selene’s shoulder.
She parried.
CLANG!
Adam froze.
She had parried.
Not dodged.
Not interrupted.
Parried.
Selene looked at him.
Then her smile widened.
"Good."
Adam caught his breath.
"Was that... a real attack?"
"A small one."
"But you must have blocked it."
"Yes."
He felt an intense satisfaction rising within him.
Even if it was only a small improvement, it proved that the training was working.
Selene stepped back.
"From today onward, all your combat training will take place here."
Adam stared at her.
"All of it?"
"All of it."
"Don’t you find that slightly cruel?"
"Yes."
"And you don’t mind?" "
"No."
Adam sighed.
Selene continued:
"Today, gravity varies between zero and twice normal. The ground is set to the first level of instability."
Adam looked at the shifting slabs.
"First level?"
"Yes."
"How many are there?"
Selene smiled.
"Many."
Adam closed his eyes.
"I shouldn’t have asked."
"As we progress, we’ll increase the speed of the changes, the tilt of the slabs, their minimum size, the frequency of collapses, and the gravitational range."
Adam swallowed.
"And I’m supposed to survive this?"
"Yes."
"Why do I get the feeling you’re taking this as a minor detail?"
"Because it is."
She raised her sword.
"One more set."
The rest of the session was a mixture of pain, broken balance, and forced progress.
Adam lost count of how many times he fell.
But he knew one thing.
By the end of the first hour, he could stand longer.
By the end of the second, he was able to parry a few blows while adapting to the variations in the ground.
Nothing perfect.
Nothing elegant.
But he was surviving better.
When a final shift in gravity forced him to his knees, Selene raised her hand.
The runes in the room gradually faded.
The ground became stable again.
Gravity returned to normal.
Adam remained motionless.
For a few seconds, the simple fact of no longer feeling the ground move felt almost strange.
Selene approached.
"That’s it for today."
Adam raised his head weakly.
"I feel like normal ground fighting is too easy now."
"Exactly."
She rested her sword on his shoulder.
"That’s the point. I’m going to make the training harder than reality. That way, when you fight outside, your body will find the world slow and predictable."
Adam remained silent.
Then he smiled slightly.
"It’s cruel... but makes sense."
"The perfect combination."
A notification popped up in front of him.
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Training Complete
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Location: Gravitational Adaptation Chamber
Creator: Vespera Drakharis
Duration: 2 hours
Results:
*Improved Dynamic Balance
*Improved Reaction to Changing Terrain
*Initial Gravitational Adaptation Acquired
*Enhanced Footwork Management
*Sword Mastery Level 1: Progression Augmented
*Mana Body Lv. 2: Enhanced Body Synchronization
*Vigorous Body Lv. 2: Enhanced Stamina
*Limiter Lv. 1: Enhanced Balance Limit Analysis
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Adam silently read the notification.
"Initial Gravitational Adaptation..."
Selene tilted her head.
"Did your power react again?"
"Yes. It confirms that I’ve improved."
"Good."
She smiled.
"Tomorrow, we’ll slightly increase the ground difficulty."
Adam slowly looked up at her.
"Obviously."
"And the day after tomorrow, we’ll increase the gravity limit."
"You know, sometimes you can just say ’well done’ and leave it at that."
Selene seemed to think seriously.
Then she placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Well done."
Adam blinked.
"Oh. Thank you."
She smiled.
"Tomorrow will be worse."
He sighed.
"You were so close to succeeding."
Selene burst out laughing.
They finally left the rune chamber.
As soon as they reached the normal corridor, Adam immediately felt the difference.
The floor wasn’t moving.
Gravity wasn’t changing.
His feet found their natural place.
Each step felt more stable than before.
Simpler.
More obvious.
Selene watched him walk.
"Do you understand now why I brought you here?"
Adam nodded slowly.
"Yes." "If I can fight in this room, fighting on a normal field will become much easier."
"Exactly."
She smiled proudly.
"You’re making good progress."
Adam looked at her.
This time, he felt the compliment was sincere.
"Thank you, Selene."
She looked away slightly, but her ears twitched.
"Don’t get too used to compliments."
"Too late. I’ll remember it."
"Then I’ll have to make up for it with more training."
"I take it back."
She laughed softly.
When they reached the guild entrance, Selene stopped.
"Go see Elaria. She’s probably already waiting for you."
Adam looked toward the artisans’ quarters.
"After this room, working with tools seems almost relaxing."
"Don’t underestimate Elaria."
Adam sighed.
"You’re right. With her, a hammer can probably become a teaching tool."
Selene smiled.
"See you later, Adam."
This time, he wasn’t surprised by the remark.
He simply smiled.
"See you later, Selene."
Then he left the Adventurers’ Guild.
His body ached, his legs still slightly unsteady, but his mind was clear.
He had improved.
Not just in strength.
Not just in technique.
He had learned to adapt.
And in this world filled with monsters, magic, labyrinths, and fanatical empires, that ability might be more valuable than any weapon.
Adam took a deep breath.
Then he headed toward the Artisans’ Guild.
"Very well, Elaria..."
A faint smile appeared on his lips.
"Let’s see what you have planned for today."
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