Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 1101: Just One More Push

Within Crymora, most people usually abandoned physical training once they awakened, as only the unawakened relied on it to grow stronger. The awakened relied on breakthroughs to grow stronger physically, forgetting that the normal exercises they did prior to their awakening could also help them grow stronger regardless. All they had to do was scale their physical training to match their needs at that point in time.

The biggest proof of this was just that one-month training period prior to the Inter-Empire Tournament. The improvement was immense at the time.

People wondered why they were getting left behind by others, but unknown to them, those others were putting in the work and didn’t just sit down to cultivate and rely on breakthroughs.

At this moment, Asher could be seen performing squats. On his back was a huge boulder that the Physical Conditioning chamber had created. Asher didn’t know exactly how much this thing weighed, but it was freaking heavy regardless. With the boulder on his back, he focused the gravity within the chamber to target his knees and waist.

His face tightened as sweat dripped down. His muscles felt as though they were tearing, his knees felt as though they couldn’t hold on any longer, but to Asher, it was all about the mindset, it was all about mentality, it was all about will. If he could persist, he could break through his limits. Even if he tore a muscle, it didn’t matter.

This wasn’t Earth, where people had to be careful not to overdo things, lest they spend weeks in the hospital. But just because he had Virelass didn’t mean he could be careless and reckless; that would be sort of counterproductive. He needed his body to feel every pain, he needed his bones, muscles, and fibres to feel every strain and stretch.

Each time he felt like he couldn’t hold on, he would tell himself, ”Just one more push.”

If people who stayed up late into the dead of night binging various series and episodes of movies always told themselves, ”Only one more episode before I sleep,” then ended up not sleeping at all and watching over ten more, why couldn’t the same thing apply to his workout?

And with his Absolute Physique, he grew stronger than most, if not all. His recovery time was faster, reducing his resting period drastically.

As the hours passed, he transferred the boulder on his back to his shoulders, as he continued his squatting after a few minutes of rest. He made sure the gravity feature remained active at all times, the focus now fixed on his shoulders as it also remained on his knees.

After a moment, he dropped the boulder. The moment he did, it vanished, and the gravity feature also deactivated. He sat on the ground against the wall, his chest rising and falling rapidly. His sweat was as though he had just stepped out of a shower, and every drop that hit the floor automatically vanished as though the Physical Conditioning chamber possessed some auto-cleaning function, which was perfect.

Asher wanted to dry himself with Astra energy, but to his surprise, he couldn’t use it.

’It seems Astra energy is sealed in here to prevent anyone from being tempted to use Astra energy to soften their training,’ he thought to himself as he shook his head.

Anyone who did that was probably not serious and should just remain at home instead of coming here to deceive themselves with the idea of training.

Although his Astra energy was sealed, his Star Energy wasn’t, but he simply decided not to dry himself anymore since the Physical Conditioning chamber didn’t allow it. He couldn’t help but find it funny that Blue, an assassin who had attacked him almost a year ago, had an ability that could negate Star Energy, yet this ancient training facility couldn’t.

With a wave of his hand, his food appeared as he immediately began to eat. He didn’t eat to his satisfaction, just enough to satisfy the hunger that came from the last two weeks he had spent trying to enter the Spark sub-Life Rank. After all, it wasn’t really advisable to work out on a full stomach, although he had a fast metabolism. He didn’t... could one even call that work ethic? He didn’t know, but that was a story for another day. As for now? Back to the grind.

Days passed as Asher focused on nothing but his physical training. He could feel himself getting stronger ever so slowly, but the moment the feeling arose, it vanished as the Absolute Physique instantly adapted to the strength. He suppressed the temptation to check his status screen, after all, ultimate focus was his mantra for these three or more months of exercise.

Even while he was resting, he didn’t just sit and look at the metallic ceiling and walls. No, he performed breathing exercises, or simply just meditated like some ancient monk... although he wasn’t bald.

Over two weeks had passed at this moment as Asher focused on nothing but his body. At this moment, one could see metals that weighed an unknown amount strapped to his four limbs; around his wrists and around his ankles. Although the Physical Conditioning chamber wasn’t too big, it was still large and spacious enough, so he jogged around the room as gravity pressed down on his chest and shoulders.

He tried not to pant until he reached his limits, trying the breathing method that supposedly conserved stamina as he tried to keep his breathing level. But he didn’t just do that. He transitioned into handstands, then tried jogging on his hands with his legs lifted off the ground. He didn’t bend his knees; he remained invertedly upright.

He stopped, the weights coming off his limbs as he ate again. Unlike the cultivation period, where he ate only once every two weeks, in this training, he couldn’t, as his body consumed energy to keep up this insane exercise. So he basically ate every single day, so his body could keep up with the task at hand. Even with the Absolute Physique, it wouldn’t magically bring energy without a source.

Another two weeks passed as Asher approached the end of his Physical Conditioning. He had dedicated a whole month to this particular training. Just because he was training his body didn’t mean that he would just train it for a week, then dive into other things. He would never do that. He would give each aspect of his powers and abilities the same attention, and each one must progress like the others.

It didn’t matter if it was Star Energy, Space, or whatever; they would all get the same attention. He wouldn’t favor some over the others. Although many people focused on some abilities more than the others due to time, resources, and talent, they weren’t him, and they didn’t have his talent.

On the final days of his Physical Conditioning training, Asher could be seen doing a one-finger handstand push-up with his right-hand index finger while his left hand remained on his back. While this might be impossible back on Earth, this wasn’t Earth, as this particular exercise was a bit normal here. Anyone could do it with enough training, body strength, and core control.