The 2g Zone

With the pylon dropped, Cynrik took a deep breath before walking forward into the 2g Zone. When his foot crossed the invisible thresh hold, two notifications trigged simultaneously along with the sudden increase in force on his body.

  - Current Gravity = 2g -

  -Hosts will have a threefold increase in Affinity, Codex, and Circuit training.-

Cynrik's face scrunched up with his eyes closed as he stood in place while attempting to regulate his breathing. Brance stood still to his right, focusing on the feeling of two-times Vinestra's gravity on his body.

{This is manageable; Tobs, open Stats panel and highlight my Stamina in red,} opening his eyes, Cynrik watched as Tobs followed his request and changed the color of his Stamina from black to a bright red. Instead of just thinking it to himself, he opted to use the mind link so Tobs would do the same for Brance.

Watching his Stamina slowly drop the longer he stood in place, Cynrik opened up a second window with his Status Panel so he could watch the changes to Body Tempering and Gravity Resistance. While watching these numbers change, Cynrik was also counting in his head to calculate the exact gains per second under 2g.

Knowing his brother was making calculations, Brance took it upon himself to watch for any virtual creatures that may pop up and try attacking. Minutes ticked by slowly under the pressure of the two-times Vinestra gravity, it didn't take long for both boys to work up a sweat under strain, and before long, 30 minutes had gone by uncomfortably.

Cynrik let their Stam drop to 10/160 before giving the signal to step back into the 1g Zone. By moving back only a couple of steps, it was like a colossal weight suddenly disappeared from their shoulders, and soon they were able to breathe normally again instead of in short quick bursts.

Panting heavily and drenched in sweat, both boys collapsed onto their backs for several more minutes; the only sound they could hear was their hearts beating loudly, their heavy breathing, and the synthetic ambient music Odin had put in place.

Eventually, Cynrik sat up and began explaining his findings. "30 minutes in 2g drained 150 Stam. In contrast, the rewards were decent but kind of disappointing. I won't bore you with the math, but we are roughly getting 0.002% in Body tempering and Gravity Resistance per second, which brought us a total of 3.6%. But, of course, this is just by standing in one place; if we were to spar in 2g, we'd be lucky if our Stamina holds out for like 5-10 minutes."

By the time Cynrik finished explaining, Brance was sitting up and monitoring his Stamina's recovery speed. "Looks like it'll be 30 minutes in gravity and 30 minutes out. If my guess is correct, it should take roughly that much time to get back to a full tank, so in the meantime, we may as well work on our Affinities while our Stamina recovers."

Crossing his legs, Brance spun the Mana in his Codex and made a batch of small wind gusts dance around his body as both a form of training and a way to cool off. Cynrik watched this for a moment before sitting in the same position as his brother before summoning two small fireballs and making them chase each other.

The two had already long found out the most efficient way to train up their Affinities was to use them until their MP was nearly depleted, so by the time their Stam was replenished, they had already burned around 40% of their MP.

"Threefold gain is pretty good. I was able to get another 3% for my Fire Proficiency," extinguishing the two fireballs Cynrik stood up and patted his butt a couple of times before looking at the imaginary line representing where the 1g zone stopped and the 2g zone began.

"Let's get this over with, so I can go back to grinding my Wind Affinity; I'm getting close to 25%, and Dad said I'd be getting my next skill at that checkpoint," Brance took the initiative to step forward first this time.

They went back and forth like this for several hours until, on the 14th cycle, they both received a notification from Tobs.

  -Your body has started to adjust to two-times Vinestra's gravity; as a result, the Host's Proficiency gain in 2g will be halved, as will the amount of Stamina required to stay in the zone.-

The boys let out victory cheers because, for the last day, all they had done was repeat the same process of standing in place for 30 minutes, then collapsing for a bit before sitting up and training their Affinities. A quick check over their stats showed that they had both hit the 50% mark for 1g Gravity Resistance and Tier 0 Body Tempering rose to 20%. But, that wasn't all; the two had been able to raise their two auxiliary Affinities significantly.

The only problem was, they realized they were capped with their growth again. Cynriks Fire Affinity had capped at 10% of Tier 1, and his Wind had capped at 25% of Tier 0. Brance was in the same situation; Wind had capped at 25% of Tier 0 and his Earth at 10% of Tier 1.

Even more depressing was that neither of them had been able to get their Original Affinities past 5%.

"Let's call it a day and head back to the Rest Area and get some sleep," Cyrnik tried not to let these percentage caps get to him as he posed the idea to head back and get some sleep. They had spent the last 28 hours straight, essentially only taking 30-minute breaks where even during their "break time," they would still actively work on their Affinities.

Nodding his affirmation, Brance started walking back in the direction indicated by the Mana Pylon's extended arm. In the distance, he could still see the golden-domed building, but it was only the size of a small tv in his vision. As Brance turned to start walking, his wrist was suddenly caught by Cynrik. Turning to look back, he quickly saw his older brother's expression didn't seem right.

Brance realized something simultaneously as he saw his brother's hyper-vigilant expression; what he had noticed was the music that had been playing in an endless loop since they arrived in the HBTC had suddenly changed. Without a single word between them, Brance pulled his arm from Cynriks grip and, with his right hand, unhooked the shield from its resting position on his back and drew his sword with his left.

Cynrik knew something was up because the music had changed from its upbeat synthetic tune to a slow-paced guitar-filled beat. Using his eyes to scan the area around them, he quickly trained in on two objects running towards them from a distance. "Hehehe, the music always changes when there's an enemy to fight."

Readying himself for the incoming enemies, Cynrik slowly dropped into a fighting stance while his right arm rose behind him to grip the hilt of the sword on his back, and his left hand gripped the handle of the blade on his waist. However, unlike the regular grip, like the one he was using for the sword on his back, Cynrik's left hand gripped the sword on his hip in a reverse grip with his palm facing upward instead of down.

With excitement plastered on his face, Cynrik tried pulling out both swords simultaneously, but to his dismay, Tobs took this moment to crush his dreams.

  - Host is unable to wield two weapons at the same time.-

  - Requirements for Dual Wielding are as follows-

  - Dexterity 50 -

  - Agility 50 -

  - Passive Skill Dual Wield-

Cynrik re-read the notifications several times before swearing in his mind at Tobs; he repeatedly tried unsheathing both weapons over and over. But, he was met by a force that seemed to be keeping both weapons in their housings.

"MOTHER FUCKING TOBS!" Cynriks' sudden outburst startled Brance so severely that it caused him to drop his shield on the ground; picking it up just as swiftly as he dropped it, Brance whipped his head to look at his brother and then the incoming enemies several times in confusion.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Take out your damn swords," Brance hurridly scolded Cynrik, who continued to try drawing both weapons only to have them be locked in place and unmovable. "I can't fucking Dual Wield; this is fucking bull shit. I ALWAYS DUAL WIELD! Tobs is saying I need 50 fucking Dex and Agi, as well as a damn passive skill. THIS IS IDIOTIC!"

Brance looked away from his angsty brother to see that the enemies had finally come into clear sight; it was two ferocious-looking green grizzly bears.

Upon looking away from his sword resting on his hip and at the two bears, Cynriks left eye began twitching rapidly. "TOBS, YOU BETTER NOT FUCKING HAVE LOCKED ME OUT OF MY HIDDEN BLADES TOO!" Cynrik gave up on his swords in a fit of rage, kicked off the ground with all his might, and dashed at the two bears.

"THIS BETTER BE YOUR FUCKING WAY OF MAKING IT UP TO ME!" Cynrik spat out in a crazed tone as he surged toward the enemies.

Before running after his brother, Brance couldn't help muttering, "Of course, they look like Carlisle."