Chapter 34: Supremacy Training Hall!
Finally, the taxi began to slow as a towering fortress-like compound appeared on a hill, its gates marked by a blazing sigil of a sword cutting through the heavens.
The taxi came to a halt in front of the black mana-coated gate. Bruce got out first. Sophie stepped out beside him, her hair catching the wind.
Bruce slipped two gold coins into the driver’s hand.
The man bowed instinctively. "Thank you, sir."
The taxi shot away the next second, leaving only the faint echo of exhaust in the air.
Bruce and Sophie stood shoulder to shoulder before the colossal gates looming ahead, dark iron overlaid with glowing runes, reinforced with mana inscriptions. Above it, carved in obsidian stone, were the words:
[SUPREMACY TRAINING HALL]
Even from outside, immense power throbbed from within, like the silent heartbeat of a beast waiting to devour the weak.
Bruce narrowed his eyes slightly. Sophie watched him with a faint smile.
"Welcome," she said, her voice soft but edged with pride. "To the place where monsters are made."
"Interesting," Bruce smiled.
They proceeded to walk through the towering gates, side by side. The guards did not even bother to stop them. Sophie’s presence alone was enough to part any path. A few trainees and attendants passing by paused to greet her respectfully.
"Lady Sophie!"
"Good morning, Lady Sophie!"
She returned their greetings with a calm wave and a polite smile, keeping her pace steady. Bruce noticed how everyone here treated her, not with simple admiration, but with a mix of respect and fear.
They stepped into the main hall and Bruce paused.
He had expected some kind of polished academy with marble pillars, trophies on the wall, banners of glory like dojos back on Earth.
Instead, what stood before him was a cathedral of power.
The interior stretched wide and deep like a fortress hideout, obsidian walls reinforced with silver mana-steel plates, massive pillars lined with defensive runes, and layered barriers that shimmered along the ceilings. Thick cables hummed with energy, connecting heavy machinery and brutal training devices. Screens floated in the air, tracking combat performance and mana readings in real time.
It was not elegant. It was not pretty. It was built for one thing: producing monsters.
Sophie watched his reaction with a hint of pride. "Different from what you imagined?"
Bruce nodded. "I did not expect this," he admitted.
"It may not look luxurious," Sophie said, walking forward, "but everything here is reinforced. The floors are made from compressed dungeon stone, strong enough to tank S-rank impacts. And every piece of equipment here was crafted by the Empire’s best artificers. This is not just a training hall. It is one of the best in the entire kingdom."
She pointed around as she explained:
"To the north, that is the Mana Stabilization Wing. It is where Awakened refine mana flow and learn advanced circulation techniques."
"To the west are the Reinforced Combat Arenas, sealed with layered barriers and spatial locks. You can go all-out there without worrying about damage."
"To the east, you will find the Mana Pressure Chambers. Good old pure physical torture. It is where we strengthen the body using insane gravity and crushing mana fields."
"And south," she finished, "is the Reinforced Weight Sector and Forging Hall. If you want to build raw physical strength, this is where you go."
Bruce’s eyes moved to the south sector, towering gravity racks, titanic weight blocks engraved with runes, and metal beams thicker than trees. Dozens of Awakened were already training like beasts, lifting things that made freight containers look light.
He smirked.
"That is where I will start," he said.
Sophie nodded, crossing her arms as her red eyes glinted. "Physical power, huh? Figures. You do not do anything halfway."
They walked deeper into the hall, and immediately conversations died around them. People turned. Whispered. Elbows nudged shoulders. Eyes widened.
Sophie Reign did not bring people here. She came alone. Always.
So to see her walking beside a man, chatting with him casually, almost comfortably, sent a ripple of disbelief through the entire hall.
"Who is that guy?"
"Never seen him before."
"Wait, did she just smile at him?"
"Bro, we are witnessing history."
Bruce ignored the stares like they did not exist. Sophie did not bother acknowledging them. Together, they reached a secluded section at the far-right end, an area lined with massive reinforced barbells engraved with weight sigils.
"This is the Heavy Resistance Sector. It is for B to S-Ranked Awakened," Sophie introduced calmly.
Each colossal barbell was mounted on reinforced racks that shimmered with mana barriers. The smallest started at one hundred tons. From there, they went up: two hundred, three hundred, four hundred, all the way to one thousand tons.
This place was for B to S-Rank Awakened only.
Unsurprisingly, it was not crowded. In fact, only one other person was training there, a young man with a serious bowl cut, black eyes, and thick eyebrows, veins bulging from effort as he struggled to bench one hundred tons.
He grunted hard, veins throbbing on his forehead.
Bruce stared at him for a second, then had to resist a laugh. ’Rock Lee? No, Guy Sensei?’
The resemblance was uncanny.
The guy noticed them and froze for a split second, but after spotting Sophie, he immediately shut up and minded his business, though his eyes flickered curiously toward Bruce. He silently observed them both as he continued lifting the weight.
Bruce walked over to the rack and casually gripped the 100-ton barbell.
Sophie watched with mild interest.
The Lee-lookalike watched.
Bruce lifted it with one hand.
Effortlessly!
He did not grunt. He did not tense. He just lifted it.
Sophie raised an eyebrow. The Lee-lookalike stopped lifting entirely, too shocked to continue.
Meanwhile, Bruce stared at the weight for a moment, thoughtful. "Huh."
He sighed.
’Back on Earth, the highest human deadlift was around five hundred kilograms. World’s strongest man stuff. I rarely lift weights then And now I am casually curling a hundred tons with one arm? Yeah, I really need to recalibrate my perspective.’ He sighed again inwardly. He knew he was strong but he didn’t know he was this strong.
He started doing one-arm overhead presses smoothly, repeating until he hit thirty reps.
The guy across from him stopped training entirely, his jaw hanging loose.
Sophie blinked. She already knew he was physically strong, but this was ridiculous.
Bruce placed the 100-ton barbell down with a heavy metallic thud and calmly moved to the next: 200 tons.
Lifted.
Pressed.
Lowered.
He moved to 300.
Then 400.
Then 500.
All smooth. All casual.
Like he was not even warming up yet.
The bowl-cut stranger looked like his soul had just left his body.
’What kind of monster is he? Even most A-Ranks struggle at five hundred tons with mana reinforcement. And he is not even using mana reinforcement. I do not sense any skill activation at all.’
His hands trembled on the barbell. He had come here today feeling proud of himself. Not anymore.
***
AN:
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