---Brandon's P.O.V ---
*****
When I first learned about Jay from Min-soo, I found it hard to believe that anyone could be so powerful to kill a high-phase Tier-3 monster, while only being at Lv.25 themselves, that too within just the first 3 days of the Alpha Program.
From then, I observed his ranking in the Trial World leaderboard, and saw as his position continued to fall as one by one evolved to Tier-3.
Observing that, I began to doubt if Min-soo exaggerated him too much, and that Jay might have reached Lv.25 in such a short time due to a stroke of luck.
So, when Henry boasted in front of the other Alpha Chosen that he could defeat Jay, I personally didn't stop him, intending to see what Jay would do when he found out about it.
In the case he became aggressive and tried to attack Henry for challenging him, I was prepared to step in and fight Jay.
I believed that I had the strength to face him, since I had already evolved to Tier-3. Whereas, Jay was still Lv.25.
Once I proved my strength to him, I could use that chance to invite him into our group. That way, the action of recruiting Jay would also serve to establish my position among the other Alpha-Chosen.
But, when Jay arrived in front of us, my skill [Danger Sense] that alerts me whenever I am in imminent danger or in the presence of a powerful monster that could threaten my life, went off like never before.
That made me realise how vast the difference in our power was.
I threw away my previous plan and quietly warned Henry that I couldn't save him if he tried to pick a fight with Jay.
I was relieved that Henry took my words seriously and didn't act rashly, like he usually does.
Later, when we witnessed Jay one-sidedly crush the Tier-3 Ogre right in front of us, Henry couldn't help but shake in fear.
If Jay was trying to establish his dominance by the spectacle he pulled in front of us, I would say he succeeded with flying colours.
Due to the terrifying power he displayed, even Jay's casual words carried a weight of authority to them.
From what Jay announced, it was clear that he wanted to unite all the Earth's Alpha Chosen and prepare us for the future tournaments.
I didn't raise any concerns on that, nor did anyone. I was rather glad that we have such a powerful person on our side.
Later, Jay left us with the Hobgoblin monster, and time passed quickly, as it continued to introduce us to the numerous futuristic facilities within the dome.
Half of them were the cultivating grounds, with each one providing a respective elemental environment, that could help one shorten the time required to improve one's mastery.
The Hobgoblin monster proclaimed that within those cultivation grounds, one's rate of comprehending their respective element would improve by a grade above their actual one.
That meant, as long as I use a lightning element cultivation ground, the comprehension rate of my Grade-8 Lightning Innate Talent would temporarily improve to that of a Grade-9 one.
But there were two issues, the first one being that the lightning cultivation ground was inactive, since it was lacking its primary resources.
As for what those primary resources were, I didn't know and from the words of the Hobgoblin monster; it seemed that only the cultivation grounds with fire, earth, wind, darkness and poison elemental environments were active at the moment.
So, only Sergei, Gabriel and Kasim could benefit from them.
But, there comes the second issue, it was that all of us reached the peak of our respective minor masteries, and we're obstructed by something called the first Universal Limit.
Since the Hobgoblin monster made it clear that one couldn't improve their respective Innate Talent mastery to the next stage, till we could break past that limit.
After that, we were taken into a recovery chamber facility, where all of us were surprised at the improved recovery of our stamina and Spirit Energy.
But, the hypergravity chamber facility that we visited next, was something that stood out from the other facilities.
It seemed that the main purpose of the hypergravity chamber was to accustom us to different levels of gravity.
The Hobgoblin monster emphasised that we should train more in that facility, so that when we eventually enter other Zones after the first tournament, we could easily adjust to that respective zone's gravity.
Usually, when one adds the undistributed stats to their attributes, it would take some time to adjust to them.
But, by adjusting the hypergravity field in that chamber to reach higher gravity levels, the time that takes to improve control over our physical attributes would be shortened by a great deal.
Due to CIA's special training that uses higher gravitational forces, I should say that I am pretty familiar with the effects of enduring high gravity levels.
For an average person, 3 to 4 times Earth's gravity would be more realistic, and they would still need rigorous training to get their muscle strength up that of an elite athlete.
But above that gravity, it is hard to even walk, because the load on your legs and core muscles in a strong gravitational field feels pretty much like carrying a large weight on your shoulders.
Even though human bones could theoretically withstand the load of running at 10 times the Earth's gravity, the skeletal strength would be pointless if the muscles aren't strong enough to stand up or walk.
Based on squatting ability, even an elite athlete wouldn't be able to move from a seated position at five times Earth's gravity, since it would be the same as squatting around thrice one's size.
But, that wouldn't be much of an issue for us, who had our physical attributes enhanced due to the undistributed stats we gained from levelling up and evolving to higher tiers.
With Henry boasting that he could reach higher gravity levels than others, the environment eventually ended up becoming competitive.
Looking at them, the Hobgoblin announced, "Well, since you guys are in a competitive mood, why don't I take this chance to inform you of the rules set by my master earlier than intended.
It's regarding the benefits that Master promised to provide you with; instead of spoon feeding you the valuable benefits, Master decided to let all of you earn them with your abilities.
Let's take this hypergravity chamber for example, the number of G's you can withstand in this chamber will reward you with the number of minutes you can spend in the Virtual Training Chamber per day."
Many gasped upon hearing about the reward. Even I couldn't help but be tempted by it.
The Virtual Training Chamber could allow us to create an avatar in a perfectly simulated virtual space, where we could customise our opponent, so that we could overcome our weaknesses.
By using virtual avatars, we could improve our combat abilities without having to fear death, which made it more effective than training by ourselves.
Soon, under the Hobgoblin's instructions, all ten of us entered the hypergravity chamber and lined-up within a completely sealed huge cylindrical room.
With a wave of the Hobgoblin's hand, a wide screen appeared in front of us showing '5G', indicating the force of gravity acting upon us was five times that of the Earth's.
Rather than feeling any uneasiness from the increased gravitational force, everyone was pumped to withstand as much as gravity as possible, for the reward that followed it.
Even under the pull of 5G's Henry began challenging Kensei, whom he treated as his rival.
The usually silent Kensei accepted his challenge with a bet, saying that if he managed to endure a higher gravity level than him, then Henry shouldn't challenge anyone among us till the first tournament ends.
If Henry manages to win their bet, then Kensei would be his sparring partner whenever Henry wanted till the first tournament ends.
Looking at both of them, I sighed, since it was an usual sight for me to watch them compete against each other.
Unlike us, Henry and Kensei spawned beside each other when they were first teleported to the Trial World.
Even though their behaviour was quite opposite to each other, they developed a sense of camaraderie from fighting against the monsters together.
Once the gravity reached '10 G', I started to feel the pressure trying to push me down. However, that was nowhere enough to make me give up.
In the wide screen in front of us, the gravity continued to rise by 1G per 5 seconds, and it soon reached 30 times the gravity of Earth, and Gabriel fell to his knees as his complexion turned pale.
The Hobgoblin immediately pulled Gabriel into a safe zone, where the gravity slowly returned to normal without damaging his body.
The test to withstand higher forces of gravity depended mostly on how high one's strength and endurance attributes were.
With Gabriel being the one with the lowest level among us, he was the first one to go down. Soon though, Kasim, who was also at Lv.24, followed after Gabriel.
Next ones to follow were those at Lv.25. Dante, Henry and Kensei gave up at 37 G's, 39 G's, and 40 G's respectively.
Just like that, Henry lost his bet with '1 G' difference, leaving him to complain that he should have endured it a little longer, while laying in the safe zone nearby.
My body began to shake once it crossed 40 G's, and by the time it crossed 50 G's, my blood rushed into my legs, and it felt like my heart was having trouble with pumping blood to my brain.
After reaching my limit at 52 G's, I tapped out, and so did Sergei at 53 G's.
With that, the only ones that were left were Andrea, Min-soo, and Olivia. It didn't come as a surprise considering the high amount of stats they had, since they were at Lv.34, Lv.34 and Lv.32 respectively.
Contrary to what all of us thought, Olivia managed to endure, even after Min-soo and Andrea gave up at 60 G's.
At that point every single increase in G caused the pressure exerted on one's body to worsen by a notch. When she crossed 70 G's, I couldn't help but be astonished, just like every other Earth's Alpha-Chosen.
She managed to hold it out till she reached 75 G's, making me wonder how Olivia had such a high amount of stats.
With the performance she displayed, I am positive that she could defeat the Mid-Phase Tier-3 Orchid Centipede with just her physical strength.
While everyone was still in shock, the Hobgoblin displayed the results recorded in the Hypergravity chamber.
____________
Hypergravity chamber recordings:
11. Gabriel : 30 G's
10. Kasim : 32 G's
9. Dante : 37 G's
8. Henry : 39 G's
7. Kensei : 40 G's
6. Brandon : 52 G's
5. Sergei : 53 G's
4. Andrea : 60 G's
3. Min-soo : 61 G's
2. Olivia : 75 G's
1. Jay : #####
____________
My gaze stopped at Jay's name, as I guessed that he must have used the hypergravity chamber before us, since he was basically the owner of this area in the dome.
Just like me, everyone also noticed Jay's name in the top position. With how curious Min-soo was, he was the quickest one to ask the Hobgoblin monster about the extent of G's Jay had managed to withstand.
The Hobgoblin's answer left all of us gobsmacked, "With the current resources I have at hand, I was only able to make a Grade-3 Hypergravity chamber that has a maximum capacity of 98 G's. So, to answer you exactly, I am also not sure how much gravity my Master can endure in his peak form, hence I didn't specify it there."
Once I recovered from my shock, I sighed and gave up on comparing myself with that monster of a man.
After that, the Hobgoblin ended the 'dome tour' with an explanation that included several things about the system, that I didn't have a clue about beforehand.
Then, Gabriel hesitated before asking that monster, "Mr Hobgoblin, could you please tell us how you have so much knowledge of the syst…..eh, Kasim, Andrea, what you guys are shaking your head for?"
While he was in the middle of asking that Hobgoblin, Kasim and Andrea signalled to stop Gabriel from what he was doing.
Following Gabriel's query, the Hobgoblin lost the colour in its eyes, falling to the ground like a dead body and a chubby baby emerged from it.
The baby's eyes glistened while looking at Gabriel. Kasim pleaded, "Mr Venerable, please, let me explain your background story to Gabriel so that you personally don't have to waste time and effort on this."
Ignoring Kasim, the chubby baby cleared his throat, and looked at all of us, "I am glad that Gabriel brought up this topic. To know the reason why I have so much information regarding the Trial Program and the system, you all first need to learn about my story. It all started thousands of years ago. I was once a powerful being that was given the title 'Great Venerable'. Sigh, but even I had to face betrayal....."
The never-ending story continued for more than 2 hours, making me realise why Kasim and Andrea tried to stop Gabriel back then.
SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER'S PROOFREADER: 'Yuno'.
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