It had been a week since Eric, Lyria, and Livy arrived on the Heart-Shaped Island.
Eric had long since sorted out the entire alchemy finished goods with Riya's help, along with all the bottles best suited for their stat increases.
He had even increased all his training stats to 30. Lyria and Livy had also caught up.
From this point, he needed to brew potions and pills for their growth, as the ready-made bottles were running out—though only Tier 1. He had set aside all Tier 2 items, as they wouldn't need those until they reached Rank 2.
None of them had trained in the last seven days, but they did try out the gym.
The Gravity Array had three settings—Level 1 to 3. Level 1 was for late-stage Rank 1 Mystical Knights to train in, Level 2 for late-stage Rank 2, and Level 3 for late-stage Rank 3.
Eric initially had no idea why Lysandra had set such a high difficulty. Only she might know what she expected of them by placing such an extreme challenge.
But then Riya—the expert—provided her guess.
She mentioned that the Gravity Array wasn't actually difficult to create, and up to Level 3, it functioned as a one-step setting. In other words, creating Level 1 or 3 wasn't too different except for resource requirements. Beyond that, however, it became far more complex. That might explain why Lysandra extended it to Level 3—since, with her resources, it wasn't a significant burden.
Eric, Lyria, and Livy quickly tested how far their masochism had developed. Unsurprisingly, even at Level 1, they struggled, barely managing ten pushups before crawling out of the array.
According to their instructor, Riya, if each of them completed 1000 pushups within a week in Level 1, they could increase strength by 2 points and constitution and agility by 1. This was a one-time boost at their current development stage. As their stats grew, so would the difficulty.
In short, the Gravity Training Room was perfect for physical stat improvement.
Eric was impressed, but he still snorted in disdain. He didn't dislike masochistic training, but with a cute AI hacker who could enhance biceps via steroids, why bother sweating daily? Better to focus on brewing more drugs to bulk up efficiently.
So Eric, Lyria, and Livy abandoned training entirely, opting for shortcuts instead.
Still, they dedicated an hour nightly to "Mana Culminating Training"—a refined version of Mana Sensing where they forced more mana into their veins, pressuring them to thicken for eventual breakthroughs. They had learned this from Bella Noll long ago.
Livy had memorized all Tier 1 and 2 Rune symbols, but merely drawing on paper didn't invoke their power—Mana had to be channeled, and other specific materials also needed to be applied. She hadn't progressed much in Arrays beyond basic concepts.
Lyria had managed to craft caveman tools and was steadily improving. In another week, she might be able to produce low-grade Mortal tools.
Eric, aided by his beautiful A.I. assistant, had already managed to memorize everything on the 'Memory Orbs' about Alchemy. He had dabbled in the Artisan room a little as he eventually had to make more bottles for Alchemy-finished products, since the number of bottles was not unlimited, and thankfully the Artisan room had plenty of necessary materials for everything.
Everything had gone great so far, but from now on Eric had to cook Alchemy products. And he would have to keep making those nonstop for at least a month.
He hoped that they could all reach the peak '50' Training Stats by the end of the first month.
And so, three months passed since Eric, Lyria, and Livy arrived at the island.
All three idiots now had fully realized how grueling it was to reach the peak even with shortcuts.
Since the time they all reached '40' in Training Stats, they started feeling that they had become 'full,' or more specifically, they felt they had reached a boundary and could no longer progress.
If not for Riya's accurate calculations, they would have all thought that they now needed to break through, as they felt their bodies could not proceed further until they overcame some 'barrier.' This feeling was vague but very clearly felt by all three of them.
With their high Constitution stats, their Mana Culminating Training had pushed their Mana Veins to the limit, and now they could easily break through to the mid-stage of Rank 1, which was supposed to be almost impossible for any Mystical Knight, as they were the slowest bunch to progress—but it was that easy because of their high Constitution stats.
Yet Riya had emphasized not breaking through. She didn't provide a reason, but Eric knew that she only meant well, and there was no harm in waiting either, so he informed Lyria and Livy of the same.
Though after reaching '40' stats, it became far more difficult to progress, and the resources they needed became even more mind-blowing.
For example, Eric now needed to chug nearly 40 Tier 1 Minor Strength Potions to obtain 1 unused point.
A Minor Strength Potion was a potion that temporarily increased physical strength—or rather, it added +1 to strength stats for the next 10 minutes after drinking it.
Thankfully, the amount Lysandra had left behind could craft 10,000, if not more, Tier 1 Minor Strength Potions—and other potions as well. In short, ingredients were of least concern to all of them.
The time taken to craft each potion was also the least of their worries, thanks to the 'microwave' and a few other things Lysandra had left behind in the Alchemy room.
The microwave was actually a time-speeding artifact for Alchemy. It could help in making the final product within a very short time.
For example, a Minor Strength Potion would normally take two hours to make, but now Eric only needed a few minutes, and he could cook lots of them in one go—though he didn't do so, as too many at once resulted in some failures. Although the resources were countless, wasting them felt bad. Who knew when they might need just one, only to find they had to travel for months to Batley City to obtain it?
Thankfully, with the steady increase in Agility stats, Eric slowly managed to increase the number of potions he could make in the microwave, as it became easier to reduce failures.
And so, within the last three months, the amount of potions and pills Eric had cooked was enormous. It wasn't just what they needed now—but also for their future.
Taking just a single type of potion or pill wouldn't produce much energy. So, Riya had calculated and made elaborate recipes—detailing which pill or potion to take in which order to get the maximum effect.
Thus, Eric, Lyria, and Livy began their new way of torturing themselves. They felt they had taken their masochism to a new level by overfeeding themselves—to the point they felt just a step away from blowing themselves up by drinking and eating too much.
It was hell in a completely different way, as no delay was allowed while taking one drug after another.
In the end, they got so sick of potions that every time Alchemy bottles were placed in front of them to obtain one unused point, all three of them—including Eric—had tears in their eyes while gazing at the colorful drugs they had to swallow in quick succession.
If not for the physical endurance of a Mana Wielder and their high Constitution, they would have truly exploded from consuming so much.
But it was worth it!
Each stat increase gave them tremendous power, which they could fully experience right away.
Each improvement brought painful smiles to their faces, as they could clearly feel their masochism levels increasing and growing stronger with each passing day.
Riya always kept a keen check on Eric, Lyria, and Livy's bodies. She made sure nothing went wrong. So far, her calculations were correct, as she never had to take the precautions she had initially planned.
Although all three of them were suffering from overindulging in candies and drinks, according to her calculations, some of those would add up as unused points for the future—so if her guess turned out to be correct, they could continue making extra progress after their breakthrough. And so, the current suffering would still result in some benefit.
After Eric, Lyria, and Livy all reached 45 in all stats, they suffered even more—but their Constitution had increased enough to ensure they didn't die from explosion.
After the first three months since they arrived, Eric finally reached 50 in one of his stats for the first time—Constitution—and faced the trial for it.
Riya promptly began calculating what was required for the breakthrough.
The moment Eric heard the requirement, he had tears in his eyes—and Riya's apologies ringing in his head.
Eric barged into his Mind Space for a proper discussion with his doctor. He needed to understand why it was so damn impossible.
"Care to explain, Riya? If Constitution is this difficult, what will happen for the other stats?"
Riya wore an apologetic smile. "I miscalculated a tiny bit... But it's not my fault! Who would have thought physical training was also required and would also culminate slowly to make the breakthrough requirement more… acceptable."
She had only now realized this after Eric's Constitution stat hit 50. The difficulty of the current breakthrough requirement would have reduced greatly if Eric had done the necessary training—which neither he, Lyria, nor Livy had done.
Eric wanted to cry, but no tears came out. He understood it wasn't Riya's fault—she was already making this impossibility a possibility. Otherwise, who knew how long it would have taken for them to reach this level of stats? Not to mention, without Riya, he would have been completely oblivious to everything, including the breakthrough requirements.
"But why is the requirement so specific?" Eric had been bewildered since hearing it.
Constitution - 30 (50) -
Breakthrough Requirement:
- 10 million sit-ups
- OR 100,000 sit-ups in Gravitational Room Level 1
- OR 10,000 sit-ups in Level 2
All in one continuous attempt—no rest in between, no external help, including Mana usage.
The Gravitational Room was the only feasible option, as 10 million sit-ups weren't impossible—but completing them in one-stroke was, since they couldn't eat or rest in between. Just how many days would it take? Even with a Mana Wielder's body, it was nearly impossible!
But even Level 1 in the Gravitational Room was meant for those with a 'minimum' of 90 in stats! And since it was designed for 'training,' the original difficulty was actually much higher—similarly, its stat requirement was much higher than just 90, as all Mana Wielders had at least some development in their Training Stats.
A Mystical Knight at late-stage Rank 1 had 90 in all stats—excluding Training Stats.
For Level 3 Gravitational Array, they didn't even dare step in—and the same went for Level 2. Even Riya knew that, so she didn't even bother calculating for Level 3.
Riya shook her head. "The breakthrough requirement isn't actually specific—these are my calculations. Similar tedious work would likely result in the necessary 'explosion' required for this breakthrough. Although I can figure out more ways, they'll only be far more difficult for you. For example, you could dive 2,000 meters underwater without protection—I could calculate a more precise estimation, but it would result in something similarly grueling. Do you want to try?"
She knew their conditions well, so she presented the requirement most 'possible' for Eric—with the 'least' life-threatening conditions.
Eric swiftly denied that suggestion by waving his hand rapidly.
Even with his improved Constitution, he doubted he could dive that deep—not to mention holding his breath that long without external help.
Eric suddenly thought of another possibility. With expectation, he swiftly asked, "Can't you create the 'explosion' artificially—like with pills or potions?"