Chapter 35: Breaking Past Limits!
Meanwhile, Sophie watched Bruce ascend through the weight tiers, eyes narrowed with intense focus. Then she smirked.
’This was the true difference between A-Rank and S-Rank. This was why the world feares them.’ Sophie’s gaze lingered on Bruce, awe flickering in her crimson eyes. ’And this is the level I have to reach... no, surpass.’
She clenched her fist lightly.
And I will.
Bruce stood before the 600-ton barbell. He gripped it calmly and lifted.
Smoothly.
Effortlessly.
He set it down like it weighed nothing.
The bowl-cut guy nearly had a heart attack. Sophie looked proud but unsurprised. Bruce simply moved on to the 800-ton rack.
Lift.
Down.
Then 900 tons.
Even then, no struggle.
Finally, he stopped before the massive 1,000-ton barbell. The sheer weight warped the metal rack beneath it. The air trembled faintly from the mana pressure around it.
Bruce grabbed it with both hands and grinned.
"Let us see where my limit is."
He pulled.
The weight resisted. His muscles tensed. His veins bulged. For the first time, the effort showed on his face.
Thud. The barbell left the ground.
A notification flickered.
[Ding! You have sustained severe muscle tearing throughout the body.]
"Heal."
A soft glow spread across his arms and chest. The pain vanished instantly.
[Healing Complete! Your body has adapted! You can now handle 1,000 tons with both arms!]
Bruce exhaled, rotating his shoulders. Then he smirked.
"Good."
He lowered the barbell, then gripped it again.
This time with one hand.
Veins throbbed as the metal trembled. His forearm swelled like coiled steel cables under his skin. His expression hardened but he refused to give in.
He roared silently in effort.
And lifted.
[Ding! Severe muscle tearing detected in the right arm.]
"Heal."
[Healing Complete! Adaptation complete! You can now lift 1,000 tons with your right arm!]
Sophie stared, stunned despite herself. "He can evolve while training?"
The bowl-cut guy’s expression had transcended shock and now hovered somewhere between religious devotion and existential crisis.
Bruce switched arms.
Lift.
Same struggle.
Same result.
[Ding! You can now lift 1,000 tons with your left arm!]
Now he was casually curling a 1,000-ton barbell, one-handed, as if he was testing how it felt.
Sophie could only shake her head, unable to hold back a smile. "You are a problem," she said quietly.
Bruce glanced around. "Is there anything heavier than this?"
"No," Sophie replied, walking closer. "Even though the ground is reinforced with mana steel, anything above 1,000 tons would collapse the foundation of the building."
"So only S-Ranks can train here. SS+ should be able to find this extremely easy," Bruce said.
"Yes," she nodded, "but it was designed more to challenge A-Ranks striving to reach S. But sadly physical effort alone isn’t enough, one has to break records and get titles. Also, most S-Ranks need heavier resistance to feel growth. People like you," she met his eyes, "do not really fit inside normal categories."
Bruce dropped the 1,000-ton barbell with a heavy impact. "I am done here, then."
Sophie smiled and motioned for him to follow. "Still feeling confident? Let us see how you handle something a little more brutal. Even some SS find it hard to handle."
She pointed ahead toward a sealed hall lined with dense runes.
"The Mana Pressure Chambers," she said. "If you are looking for a real challenge, this is where it begins."
Bruce’s eyes sharpened.
"Good," he said. "I was getting bored."
They left the weight sector together.
The Mana Pressure Chambers stood silent and empty, unsurprising. It looked like an Elevation chamber. Unlike the weight training hall, the minimum pressure here started at 1,500 tons. Even A-Rank Awakened rarely dared to step inside. This was a place designed to break bodies, crush bones, and forge monsters.
A circular reinforced chamber stood in the center, its transparent door thick like mana-forged glass. Runes pulsed faintly across its surface. A panel of buttons was embedded at the front, each marked with different weight thresholds.
Sophie brushed a strand of red hair behind her ear as she spoke. "This chamber compresses weight into raw gravitational force. It does not just press on your muscles. It crushes your bones, squeezes your organs, and tests your entire body structure. It is nothing like lifting weights. The difficulty is on a whole different level."
Bruce stepped closer, eyes narrowed in interest. "What is the limit?"
"500,000 tons technology to go higher exist but that would tear space which isn’t a good thing," Sophie replied. "But anyways, the lowest preset is 1,500 tons."
She glanced at him. "How much do you want to start with?"
Bruce rolled his shoulders. "Two thousand."
She paused, not to stop him, but just to process what she had heard. Most S Awakened would have said 1,500 to feel things out. Maybe 1,700 if they were reckless. Only a lunatic would jump to 2,000 as a warm-up.
Then again, this was Bruce.
She pressed a button. The chamber hissed open.
Bruce stepped inside.
The door sealed shut with a heavy chunk.
Sophie adjusted the settings from outside and glanced at him through the glass. He gave a small nod.
She pressed 2000.
PAM!
The moment the button clicked, gravity hit Bruce like a collapsing mountain.
The floor quaked under invisible force. The air froze solid. Space itself squeezed around him like steel jaws.
Bruce’s face twisted as he dropped to one knee instantly, bones snapping like firecrackers inside his flesh.
[Ding! You have fractured your tibia.]
[Ding! You have shattered your femur.]
[Ding! Six ribs broken. Two punctured lungs.]
[Ding! Skull fracture detected.]
[Ding! Muscle fibers torn across eighty-five percent of body.]
[Ding! Skin lacerations detected.]
Blood burst from his pores. His veins bulged. His entire body contorted in unnatural angles as invisible weight tore him apart.
Outside, Sophie’s knuckles turned white as she gripped the railing.
’Damn it, Bruce.’ Her chest tightened. ’This is too much.’
Her heart raced, helplessly watching his body tremble under the unimaginable strain. She gritted her teeth, every instinct screaming to shut the machine down, but she held back.
Because she knew he would not want her to.
Inside the chamber, Bruce could barely breathe. His bones were crushed. His skin split open. His vision blurred red. He could open his eyelid, it was torn, his eyes bursted...
Any normal Awakened would have already lost consciousness. But Bruce Ackerman was anything but normal. His iron will chained his mind in place, refusing to collapse.
He opened his mouth.
"Heal."
The word escaped like a growl.
Light erupted from his body, pure, blinding, overwhelming. Flesh knitted together. Shattered bones reformed. Muscle wove back together like steel cables pulling tight.
Skin sealed cleanly as blood evaporated under raw life force.
In moments, he was whole.
[Ding! You have fully healed.]
[Ding! Your body has adapted. You can now withstand 2,000 tons of gravitational force.]
Bruce slowly rose to both feet, eyes focused, breathing steady again as if nothing had happened.
Outside the glass, Sophie exhaled, shoulders relaxing at last. ’He made it.’
Bruce rotated his neck once, testing his regenerated body. No more strain. No more resistance.
"Not bad," he muttered.
Then he spoke inwardly.
’Vaelith. Hypothetically, what would have happened if I started with five thousand tons?’
The reply came instantly.
[You would have died instantly.]
A chill ran down Bruce’s spine.
’What a Sadistic Class I have...’