Endless Evolution: Last Star

Bam.

Silvana collapsed without strength when she did her last push-up. Her hands were shaking, she felt like she was going to pass out just a little bit more.

Well, that was an exaggeration, as she still managed to do her ten push-ups.

At the same time, Adam finished his 600 push-ups. He got up from the ground, clapped his palms together to knock the dust off, and looked at Tron, waiting for him to take further action.

Tron calmly waited for Silvana to come in her senses, at the same time, Riska handed Adam a new sandwich.

"Here, consider this a reward."

"Oh, thanks." Adam smiled before taking the first bite.

Silvana glanced over at Adam who was accepting food from another Operator. In any other situation, she would have felt a little envy or resentment, but right now she didn't have the energy for it. She was breathing heavily, sweat dripping off her forehead.

"Good. Now let's get started." Tron said as he rose from his seat heading towards the middle of the hall.

Adam's eyes went wide, he quickly stuffed a sandwich in his mouth and followed Tron.

"We're finally going to fight!" Adam exclaimed with an excited expression.

Tron turned around sharply.

"Fight? No, we're not doing that yet."

Adam stopped, disappointment evident on his face.

He had only seen Tron in action once, and it was only one ability against monsters weak to him. Moreover, he was a K2-Phantom back then, so a lot had to have changed since then.

"Any fighter must first go through a basic workout before stepping into the ring. This rule applies more to fighters in sports, but for our situation as well." Tron calmly explained, but the situation didn't make any more sense to Adam.

Adam raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Tron waved his hand and pointed to the heavyweights in the corner of the training room as if it were some kind of gym where a lot of equipment was.

"I think you must have missed the basic exercises that normal people do by now. Phantoms too, but only K0." Tron said leisurely stepping forward.

Adam nodded slightly.

When he first became a Phantom, Silvana created an exercise program for him. It wasn't anything special that distinguished him as a Phantom from normal humans.

The only difference was the weight. Depending on the exercises, for a normal person, the maximum weights were between 100 and 200 kilograms. For K0-Phantoms, 500 kilograms and more were not a severe problem.

Thus, when Adam got stronger and even more when he moved up to K1-Level, there was simply no benefit in such workouts.

There were no ton weights in the gyms that could be even the slightest bit of a challenge for K1-Phantom.

Well, that's because they were ordinary weights and equipment, at best made of steel.

"Here, try lifting this." Tron nonchalantly pointed to the barbell hanging above the bench press seat.

There were only two disks on the barbell, but they didn't have weights marked on them. Unlike the usual, perfectly round disks that were in every gym, these tended to be round....

The discs were uneven, with sharp angles and a displaced center of gravity. It wasn't that the people who made them did a bad job, it was that the material was really difficult to work with.

"Well, okay..." Adam was skeptical of the task and lay down, placing his hands on the barbell.

He carefully lowered the barbell bringing it closer to his chest, then he tensed his muscles going to lift it, but... he failed.

Adam's eyes went wide.

The barbell was pressing against his chest, soon he was in pain as the pressure concentrated at one point wanting to push through his muscles and even his bones.

"Is something wrong? Was I wrong that you were sure you could do this easily?" Tron lifted his chin as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Adam remembered the time when he had just become a Phantom and still struggled with weights that were quite heavy for him.

He gritted his teeth, tensed his muscles, and took a deep breath, going to lift the barbell on the exhale.

At the same time, the others watched the scene with curiosity, especially Silvana who was confused, she didn't know what those weights were.

Looking for an answer, she glanced at Riska, but it wasn't her who started talking but Max, who was already eating his third sandwich without refusing Riska's suggestions.

"These weights, these disks are made from monster parts. They're pretty hard to process and are usually used for other purposes due to their high density, but they're good for weights too." Max said calmly taking the next bite.

Silvana glanced at Max, then shifted her gaze to Tron and Adam.

"And... How much do those two disks weigh along with the barbell?"

Max shrugged.

"The exact weight is pretty hard to determine, but definitely a few tons. It would take a construction crane for regular people to lift that barbell."

Silvana nodded slowly. She realized that was close to the truth.

Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.

Slowly, using all his strength Adam managed to lift the barbell over his chest and bring it back into place. The barbell stand was made of thick steel, so it had no problem to hold that much weight on it.

"Fuck... Why was that so hard?!" Adam exclaimed in disbelief.
Read exclusive content at empire

A satisfied smile soon appeared on his face. Even if it wasn't easy, he was glad he could pull it off.

He felt a pleasant warmth in his chest, in one of the largest muscles in the human body.

"Well, that wasn't bad. Now can we move on to the battle?" Adam asked, ready to go out against Tron right now.

Tron didn't answer him.

Instead, he walked over to the wall, stuck his fingers under the stone slab, and lifted it with a slight movement of his hand.

He didn't tear the stone slab off the wall, though he could do that with his strength, the stone slab was part of the mechanism behind which was hiding something.

Adam's eyes went wide when he saw the multitude of disks, barbells, and other weights that could be used to make exercise harder or easier.

They were neatly mounted right into the wall, keeping space and convenience in that part of the gym devoted to weights.

Crackle.

Tron pulled two similarly dark green, curved disks from the wall and walked over to the barbell, setting them on.

"Wait... You want me to lift this...?"

Adam muttered in an unsure voice.

Well, it was a rhetorical question, but that didn't make it any less intimidating.

Tron cast a quick glance at him.

"Of course. It shouldn't be a problem for you. Although, no, it will be a problem."

Adam smiled bitterly.

"Hah, of course, it will be a problem. I had to make an effort to handle the last weight, but now you're suggesting I lift something twice as heavy."

Tron shook his head.

"That's not what I'm talking about. It's going to be a problem for you because you lifted the barbell wrong. You only used your muscles. Well, you'll soon realize what I'm talking about."

Then, Tron waved his hand and took a step back.

"Go ahead. Until you lift this and even heavier weights, our training won't go to the next stage. You want to win in The Rule of Power, don't you?"

Adam's eyes went wide.

"Agh...?"