PREVIOUSLY-
Theobald's skull clashed with the floor, his back arched from the impact, his ribs broke, his hands dislocated, legs swollen.
Pain exploded again. But Theobald did not even have enough energy to scream. Before his eyes closed, Theobald caught a glimpse of Gorvax snickering.
"Raphael… help…"
"Hahaha!" Gorvax laughed,
"This boy sure is talented, I never told him that gravity was raised by twenty percent in this space, yet he completed twenty reps without complaining!"
He lunged down from the tree, landing near the passed-out Theobald,
"My liege, I will make sure to turn this kid into a monster." His snout turned to Theobald, "Wake up boy, the training is half left."
SNAP!
---X---
When Theobald's eyes parted, the familiar void received him. His stance rooted before the solitary palm, the weight of the stone yet pressed against his spine. Before him stood his master, whose smile gleamed brighter than the marble flooring that caught its reflection.
"Master?!" He blurted half-scared, half-confused.
Gorvax calmly strode towards him, his lips curving upwards, then downwards, as if holding back a private amusement.
"Boy," He patted a heavy hand on Theobald's shoulder and with the air of judgement delivered, he spoke. "You passed."
Theobald blinked, his words faltered. His mind blank.
'Huh?!'
But Gorvax wasn't done. Oh no—he was just winding up.
Without wasting a moment, Gorvax snapped his fingers lazily.
The floor shifted, groaned, then shattered. The marble started breaking, cracks zipping across its polished surface. As the platform parted, a steep white wall with stones embedded on it surfaced like teeth.
"Behold!" Gorvax gallantly pointed to the wall, smirking like an artist obsessed with his masterpiece. "Now, the real training begins!"
Theobald, who had still not recovered from the shock just blinked.
"Oh, so the training starts now… WHAT?!!"
Gorvax casually draped his arm around Theobald, his fangs flashing as they sheared the rope gracefully in one clean strike. Theobald's posture straightened as the thirty-kilogram stone crashed onto the marble.
Instead, he stretched out a palm with a small stone shining in it.
"Take this," Gorvax chuckled, "All you have to do is to keep this stone locked in your shoulder blades and perform thirty bear-crawls on the wall."
His expression turned darker, as if he could already feel the pleasure from the entertainment ahead.
Theobald gritted his teeth, eyes burning with determination, "Yes master."
"That exercise," Gorvax spoke, his tone warmer than before, "It will help you in awakening your lower traps, scapular stabilizers, obliques, quadratus lumborum, forearms, finger flexors and adductors."
He tapped the stone in his palm.
"This little burden will force your core to labour with every breath. Each inhale, resistance."
Then his smile darkened.
"And on that wall—no sagging, no twisting. The surface will betray every weakness you try to hide."
Nonetheless, Theobald plants his palm and feet on the wall. The stone calmly resting between his shoulders.
As soon as he begins, he comes to a shocking revelation—his body doesn't want to move like this. His wrists bite from an awkward angle and his fingers cramp.
'This is nothing,' Theobald flexed his shoulder, tightening his grip around the stone,
'This is doable… I can—no, I will do it!'
He stays close to the wall, his legs and elbows moving smoothly like a snake. And slowly, Theobald starts to become more confident in his abilities.
But just when he completed fifteen crawls, a scorching pain flooded across his back.
"AARGGH!!"
Instinctively, he loosened his grip and the stone detached from his body, falling onto the marble with a quiet thud.
"Hahahahahaha!"
A cackle exploded. Theobald turned to see Gorvax who now had tears in his eyes.
"Little boy," He walked towards the fallen stone, "This is no ordinary stone—"
"I know." Theobald responded, still clinging to the wall.
"You know?"
"Yes… Just now?"
"Oh!" Gorvax raised an annoyed brow, "Little-bratty-princess-crybaby thinks he knows shit."
"Hey, you insolent pup!" Gorvax shouted, "How dare you interrupt when I am talking? Have you no manners for the elders?!"
Theobald fumbled a nervous chuckle in respond,
"Umm, I am sorry?... Master?"
"What sorry?" Gorvax bellowed,
"I will increase the crawls to forty-five, you bastard!"
By now, tears had started to form near the corners of Theobald's eyes.
"I.. I am sorry…"
Gorvax flinched, his ears perked up in surprise. 'T-This timid boy. How can he cry like a little girl? Hell, even girls don't cry nowadays.'
He looked up at Theobald who now resembled a drenched kitten shivering in rain.
'Master did warn me about this. But this is serious! The boy needs to grow some confidence.'
"What do I do…" Gorvax facepalmed himself,
"Kid, just do thirty… I forgive you."
Theobald's expression brightened immediately. His once teary face turned into a summery sunshine in a heartbeat.
Theobald tried again.
First climb- successful.
Second climb- successful.
Third climb- successful
Fourteenth climb- Pain started surging.
On his eighteenth climb, a deep ache crawled between his shoulder blades— his lower traps screamed keep to keep the scapula pinned tight. Every reach upward felt like someone driving nails into that spot.
His ribs and obliques burned, each shift each shift threatening to torque his torso. The sides of his body — obliques, QL — felt like braided ropes being pulled apart.
'Haah… This is fun! I feel alive!'
Theobald felt the pain, the way his body crashed out at his mind, the way even breathing felt like a stab to the chest. But Theobald was not affected—no, he just did not pay attention to the pain.
His eyes never left the wall, his neck cramping at his stiff posture.
'This feeling! What is this?!'
'At first, it felt like a sharp fire in every limb — joints, lungs, muscles screaming.'
'Then, slowly, my brain stopped fighting the signals. Pain didn't vanish — it melted into rhythm!'
Each heartbeat slammed like a war drum, each breath a furnace blast.
The ache became a proof of growth; every stab of lactic acid was rebranded in his mind as strength pouring in.
Euphoria rose— not joy exactly, but a feral hunger.
The body is dying, but the will is multiplying.
-RUNNER'S HIGH-
A state where the body, driven beyond its limits, rebels against pain by drowning itself in euphoria. Muscles tear, lungs burn, nerves scream—yet the mind is flooded with fire and clarity.
It is the warrior's paradox: the closer one comes to collapse, the more alive they feel.
Every ounce of agony is transmuted into fuel.
Every desperate gasp becomes a song of survival.
Most never taste it.
Those who do… never forget it.
Theobald was no longer climbing a wall. He was climbing through pain, into a realm where suffering became strength, and exhaustion turned to ecstasy.
With every grip, every trembling step, his body howled—yet his spirit roared louder.
This was not escape. This was ascension.
Runner's High — the euphoria of those who refuse to fall.
DING!
[CONTINUUM UNLOCKED!]
[RESILIENCE CASCADE CONTINUUM UNLOCKED!]
[CONTINUUM PROGRESS: 2%]
[LAYER (5/8) UNLOCKED TEMPORARILY!]
[ LAYER 5- RUNNER'S HIGH UNLOCKED TEMPORARILY!]
'I can see it!'
Theobald smiled, the peak was in his range, one more movement of his shoulder, one more grip of his fingers, one more lunge of thighs, one more push of his calves.
'Huh?!'
His body froze, his hands left the stone, his feet slipped, his back released the stone.
[LAYER 5- RUNNER'S HIGH LOCKED!]
[CONTINUUM PROGRESS: 2%→0.5%]
'Why?!' Theobald's jaw clenched.
WHAM!
His body hit ground.
"Failed." Gorvax's revelation came like heavenly judgement.
Tears began forming near the ends of his eyes.
'Why? How?'
His fist balled tight until his nails dig into his palms,
"W-WHY?!"
"Why the hell can't I do this?! It's right there!"
His voice began breaking into a snarl, deeper and harsher than usual.
"Tch—useless hands! Worthless body!"
"I had it! I f**ing had it—"
His whole posture vibrated, an anger so raw it hummed with the body.
"Rook is trapped God knows where… And here I am, unable to climb a single wall thirty times!"
His hand grabbed a fistful of his hair,
"Shit…Shit… It burns—everything burns—"
His vision began fading once again, but just before blacking out, he could make out a feral smile. Something that hinted at Gorvax's approval.
DING!
The purple system shimmered in the void.
[ WEEKLY MENTORING SESSION USED]
[ COOLDOWN TIME: 6 DAYS 23 HOURS 59 MINS]
"Nggh—"
Theobald grimaced with each breath as if his face forgot how to move. His heavy eyelids blinked like broken shutters. His mouth dry, tongue sticking to the roof.
"Where…am I?"
DING!
[ PROGRESS TRANSFER COMPLETE!]
[5% OF YOUR TRAINING HAS BEEN TRANSFERRED FROM THE METAPHYSICAL TRAINING SESSION!]
[MENTOR FUNCTION HAS BEEN SUSPENDED FOR 4 HRS 58 MINS 45 SECONDS]
[VINCENTA DIMENSION UNLOCKED!]
[VINCENTA DIMENSION: REALM (1/5) UNLOCKED!]
[VEYLOR CRUCIBLE UNLOCKED!]
Pain erupted all over his body. His muscles tore, his back ached, his neck cramped, his joints wobbly.
"What the heck is this?"
Theobald's eyes ran over the system screen,
"Progress transfer?!"
He glanced at himself, then at his surroundings. He was hung chained in a large tent. Wooden crates and glass jars with mysterious organs stood in silence.
He continued to read the message,
"Mentor function suspended?!" He turned his head right then left.
"Master? Are you here?"
Silence.
"So, I can't meet master Gorvax for five hours. What a shitty luck!"
His eyes widened at the last notification,
"Vin—what dimension?!"
'Does a blessed system reward dimensions to you?'
'Veylor Crucible? Sounds interesting… Blessed systems sure are nice.'
A memory flashed his mind,
'Right! What was that Continuum or skill tree I unlocked? Its progress dropped as soon as I started falling.'
His mind raced, trying to remember the system's message,
'Maybe calling its name would help me understand better.'
'Skill tree!'
Suddenly, numerous circles of light surrounded Theobald like a tornado. Many of them locked, their purple holograms locked by chains. But what pulled Theobald's attention was a black circle floating absent-mindedly alongside the locked circles.
The words etched on its display.
-[CONTINUUM]-
His lips curled into a smirk, 'Got you!'
"Open continuum!"
The purple circles disappeared as the black disc divided itself into eight layers, each floating above each other like concentric rings.
The words Resilience Cascade burned with a black flame.
Theobald sighed, 'The system sure is flashy.'
The first seven discs were covered in chains, except for the one at the bottom. Theobald squinted his eyes.
The words read- GRIT.
'What is this?!'
Then, as if the system understood Theobald's dilemma, the other rings vaporized as the 'GRIT' ring now floated vertically, words began appearing out of thin air in its circumference.
---X---
FIRST LAYER-
Grit: The mental toughness to push through discomfort and maintain effort. The foundation for all states.
Prerequisites: None. Progress: 49%
---X---
But before he could understand this weird description, the curtains of the tent shifted. A familiar figure stepped inside.
Theobald froze, then a shaky smile stretched across his face.
DING!
---[INBOX]---
◈ Equipment received.
Do you accept?
(Y/N)
---x---
Theobald nodded vigorously,
"Yes please!"
Violet light shone over his face as his eyes mirrored a shiny object materializing in front of him.
"Holy—!"