Chapter 28 - Preparing For The Gravity Zone

"First and foremost, let's check out the logistic storage. Based on its name alone, we should be able to find something helpful in keeping us alive. It's not like we can sense people outside the door like in the show, so we need a way to get back, aside from dying, that is," resting his right palm on the hilt of his hip sheathed sword Cynrik left his brother at the table and walked over to the right side storage area.

When he got to the doorway, his eyes scanned the room with Inspect activated, searching for some kind of beacon that would allow him to locate the Rest Area. The most significant danger they would face is getting lost and being forced to die to make it back. Judging by how fast his Stamina drained in 10g, if he got caught miles away without knowing what direction to head, the only option he had was to die.

It wouldn't be too much of a problem if it weren't for the death penalty that Tobs had added. But since all of his gains took 24 hours to save, it would be an absolute waste of time if he got stuck in the middle of the endless expanse after a full day of training only to have it all wiped.

Stepping into the room, Cynrik began sifting through all the different items in the small room. Unfortunately, the bulk of the articles here were mainly training clothes similar to workout clothes and tracksuits, which was slightly disappointing since he hoped to find a particular type of white and yellow battle armor. Eventually, his eyes fell on two wooden crates filled with what looked like palm-sized blue traffic cones.

-Mana Pylon: Special Advanced Grade-

-By injecting Mana into the storage chamber, a signal will be emitted for 24-48 hours; a signal will be created with the pylon as the center spreading out in a 50-150 meter radius. The strength of the signal and how long it lasts depends on how much Mana is stored in the pylon-

Cynrik's eyes lit up as he read the Mana Pylon's description. This crate and the one next to it each held ten such items. A quick mental calculation told him that each pylon could span out roughly 54-164 yards, and since his Mana sense only had a range currently of 5 meters or 5.4 yards, so long as he spaced these cones out correctly, he would be able to make a trail back to the Rest Area.

Without thinking further, he tossed all 26 pylons into his inventory and met back up with Brance at the table. After spending a couple of minutes explaining his findings to his brother, Cynrik decided it was time to start experimenting.

"Tobs mentioned a stat called Gravity Resistance; you don't have it yet, but when I got obliterated earlier, I gained it, but that's not all. When I was under the strain of 10g's, a second new stat popped up called Body Tempering," with a swipe of his hand Cynrik opened up his Status panel and sent it over to Brance as he spoke.

: Status :

: Cynrik Jetlensr:

: Human Male:

: Age-7:

: Soul Age-36:

: Level: 5 :

: Essence(XP): 5800/25000:

: Distribution: 1 Per All :

: Mana Codex Tier: 1 (Proficiency= 20.0%) :

: Mana Cycles: 300 (Proficiency= 20.0%) :

: Mana Circuit Tier: 1 (Proficiency= 20.0%) :

: Gravity Resistance: 1g (Proficiency= 0.0%) :

: Body Tempering: Tier 0 (Proficiency= 0.0%) :

"These two new stats are likely linked. So if my theory is correct, instead of increasing our STR and VIT, the grav training should increase our body's overall defense or something to that extent, making us physically tougher," Cynrik shrugged and looked at his brother for any kind of reaction.

"Makes sense considering how we don't have a defense stat. It's too much to assume that Stam and HP represent our physical defense; they just depict our overall health," with a nod, Brance stood up before placing his shield on his back and his sword back on his waist.

"Did you notice that we get small boosts from the training weapons?" Brance asked after he finished equipping his gear and following his brother to the edge of the Rest Area.

"Yeah, one specific Stat point per item when I put them on; I also got a new panel, one showing my equipment slots, named Equipment Profile," with a flick thought, Cynrik opened up this new panel.

: Equipment Profile :

: Head - Empty :

: Face - Empty :

: Shoulders - Empty :

: Arms - (BG) Training Hidden Blade x2 (+2 DEX) :

: Hands - Empty :

: Chest - Common T-shirt :

: Back - (BG) Training Shortsword (+1 STR) :

: Waist - Common leather Belt, (BG) Training Curved Short Sword (+1 STR) :

: Legs - Common cotton shorts :

: Feet - Common sneakers :

:Weapons:

: Left Hand - Empty :

: Right Hand - Empty:

The brothers stopped for a second before stepping off the marble tiles into the open void. When their feet touched the expanse, two notifications popped up p in front of Cynrik.

-Host has entered the Training Area. Current Gravity = 1g -

-Hosts will not gain Gravity Resistance or Body Tempering Proficiency in 1g but will have a double increase in Affinity, Codex, and Circuit training.-

While Brance received four, two of which were the same as Cynrik, the other two indicated he had gained the Gravity Resistance and Body Tempering stats.

Since the gravity in the first 300 yards was the same as they were used to, they began their trek towards the 2g zone.

"So…what did 10g's feel like?" as they walked, Brance's curiosity got the better of him, and he asked.

"Do you remember that spinny ride at the carnival back in our hometown?" Cynrik replied while keeping his eyes peeled for any of those so-called virtual creatures Tobs had mentioned.

"Do you mean the one where you stand up against the wall, and it spins so fast you get pinned to the inside of the ride?" the image of a ride called Vortex popped into Brance's head.

"Mm, that's the one. It felt like that on drugs. It made it impossible to not only move but even breathe. I could feel all of my blood drop to my feet, and let me tell you, it's not pleasant feeling every one of your bones crush to powder. The force wasn't as simple as just multiplying my bodyweight ten times, and it was as if the space around me was pushing down on me with an insane amount of power," remembering his near insta-death earlier brought a shiver to Cynrik's spine.

"It's better if we slowly acclimate to the different gravity levels before even trying to go up the scale," as they walked, every so often, Brance would look over his should and check how far from the Rest Area they were. Three hundred yards was the same distance as three football fields, and while the building in the Rest Area wasn't large, it was still somewhat visible by the time they reached what was estimated to be the start of the 2g zone.

"Ok, a few more steps will put us in the 2g zone; I'm dropping a Mana Pylon; help me fill it up," with a swipe of his hand, a small blue cone appeared in his outstretched hand.

"Now I'm not sure how much this thing will eat up, but there's a little charge meter on the side, so ill dump half my tank into the pylon; you should do the same," as his eyes trained on the charge meter Cyrnik was also watching his status panel as his Mana slowly drained into the blue cone.

It took a few minutes, but by the time Cynrik finished loading the pylon, it had grown to the size of a standard Earth traffic cone. Not only that, but due to the sudden expenditure, sweat was beading on his forehead. His breath was slightly labored as he placed the Mana Pylon on the floor in front of him and motioned for Brance to start charging it before eventually sitting on the ground to rest a bit before it was time to start training.

By the time Brance had finished charging the pylon, it had grown to be taller than both of them by a full head. The more Cynrik looked at it, the more he felt something was off about this Mana Pylon. Standing up and placing his hand on its smooth surface, he noticed two thin grooves that ran from top to bottom. Further inspection showed that there were three other sets of tracks running along the length of the cone.

"AH, that's what it is," sliding his nail into one of the grooves and applying pressure, the Mana Pylon made a soft clicking noise, and the groove turned into a thin bar that extended out from the main body in a straight line. "Brilliant, with this, we don't need to see which direction the Rest Area is; we can just point the arms toward the nearest pylon.." Putting the arm back down into its slot, Cynrik moved next to Brance, who was now sitting on the ground, and popped out a different component before positioning it to point towards the Rest Area.