A month had passed since Adam had entered the spacious hall. However, since then, he had only managed to move a third of the distance to the bronze pedestal.
In the beginning, he was very confident that he would be able to cross the distance in no time. But much to his dismay, he realized that with each step he took, the gravity multiplied!
That was the sound of Adam's whimpers echoing in the hall. Currently, he was lying flat on the ground, his snot and tears forming a puddle underneath his face.
Every step he took felt exponentially harder than the last one. So the only way for him to proceed forward was to first get used to the current level of gravity, and only then take the next step.
Adam raised his head and looked at the pedestal in the distance. With a suicidal expression, he muttered, "It'll probably take me a few more months at least."
Fortunately, at regular intervals, the gravity in the room would return to normal for a certain period of time, allowing the teenager to take care of his basic needs.
Magi were not invincible. They needed food and water for sustenance, and a decent amount of sleep to keep functioning.
Adam sat back up with relative ease. He was already used to the current level of gravity. However, if he took another step forward without sufficient preparations, he would be slammed to the floor.
Not long after entering this hall, after having realized that the difficulty level would get progressively harder, he decided to make the most of it.
And thus, he had entered into another intense training retreat.
Adam got into position and started doing push-ups. After he would get tired, he would rest for a while and then start doing squats. This cycle would continue to repeat until he had carried out almost all the basic workouts.
He realized that any simple exercise done under high gravity would bear results countless times better than when done under normal conditions.
Making the most out of it, Adam had already begun practicing the Astral Tyrant Manual. Although his attacks appeared extremely slow, if one took into consideration the current level of gravity, his attack speed was simply phenomenal.
Under such intense training, the youth's strength and speed had increased by leaps and bounds. Such immense progress would never have been possible in the outside world given the same time frame.
And just like that another month passed by. Adam had now already reached the halfway point. And although the gravity had increased drastically, the difficulty had, in fact, started to diminish!
This was thanks to the vast improvements that the youth had made with his physique.
Currently, he was doing handstand push-ups. His upper body was bare and covered in sweat, giving his chiseled muscles a layer of sheen.
With a push of his arms, Adam somersaulted in the air and landed on his feet. If one didn't know any better, they'd think there wasn't any increased gravity in this place at all.
Earlier, the youth truly despised being stuck in this hellish place, but after realizing how quickly he was improving, he couldn't help but come to admire it. To him, if it meant he could improve his strength, he would gladly do it.
If possible he also wanted to study the runic formations in this hall that increased the level of gravity. However, no matter how hard he tried to search for it, he was unable to find it.
It seemed that the formation was deeply concealed.
After having acclimatized to the current level of gravity, the teenager took a deep breath and took another step forward.
"Uggghhh!" Intense pressure bore down on him and he grimaced in pain.
However, unlike all the other times before, Adam wasn't pasted to the floor. He was still on his feet, albeit in a deplorable manner.
"Aaaahhhhh!" He clenched his fists and screamed at the top of his lungs, trying his hardest to stand back up straight.
It took him a while, but he eventually managed to do it.
"Heh… hehe, this training method sure is twisted." Pangs of pain radiated through his body as he felt his joints creak.
However, immediately after, he slowly became used to it after practicing the breathing method of the Astral Tyrant Manual.
After the pain had lessened a little bit, Adam wasted no time in starting his training. He immediately started to do squat-ups.
"I can do it!" Adam roared. "I can… do it… ugh!"
As the youth continued to exercise, unbeknownst to him, his rate of progress had surprisingly caught the eye of someone within the House of Cards!
In the depths of the pyramid, sitting on a luxurious high-back chair, a figure suddenly opened his eyes.
He turned his head in a certain direction, his gaze seemingly piercing through all the obstacles and finally landing on Adam.
"Oh?" The figure was slightly taken aback. He adjusted his seating position and intently looked at Adam.
He wasn't surprised by the fact that Adam was treating the testing room as his training ground, or that he had managed to cross such a distance under high gravity levels in such a short amount of time.
No, his interest was piqued by something else entirely.
"Fafafafa, what an interesting young lad!" The figure laughed strangely. "How did he see through the illusion? Hmm, I wonder…"
He slowly got up from his chair and stretched his limbs. "Oh, how long has it been since someone managed to catch my attention? A hundred years? Two hundred? Fafafa, who knows?"
The figure was wearing very flamboyant and colorful clothing. He wore a pointy hat with three dropping, floppy ends, each ending in a jingle bell.
His clothes were brightly colored and had the patterns of the four suits of the playing cards—clubs, spades, diamonds, and hearts. Moreover, he also wore long exaggerated, pointed shoes which looked very comical.
He had white face paint on and red lipstick that extended beyond his lips.
"Fafafa." The eccentric-looking man stretched his arms wide and grinned, displaying his set of pearly white teeth.
"Let's visit him, shall we?"