CHAPTER 49: GRAVITATION AND POWER LEVELS

"997, 998, 999, and Huff...1000," I said, and then slumped to the floor.

I was now dead tired.

Well, a thousand push-ups is hard.

But it wasn’t just that.

I looked at my back and saw a huge boulder with the label 10000Kg, and on top of that, Merlin was casually sitting while reading something that looked like a porn magazine.

How many pounds is 10000kg anyway

And why is she reading a porn magazine for guys? Is she into Yuri?

"Merlin, how long do I need to do this? I am already past 1000 count," I asked her as my body couldn’t do any more.

Especially when I had to fight two times without any rest, Today

"No, you still hadn’t learned the gravitation magic yet, so keep doing." She didn’t even look at me and said nonchalantly.

I cursed at that and got back to doing the push-ups again.

So why am I doing all this just for learning magic, you’re wondering.

Well, after I managed to convince Merlin to teach me magic

Yes, I managed to convince this bitch

But under the cost that she won’t directly teach me how, I could learn it instead; she will give me a task in which I would be able to learn the magic by experience.

It sounds good on paper, but in actual practice, it’s hellish.

After all, I have to use my mana to decrease the force of gravity on me while I do this hellish push.

However, by now the only thing I managed to get was a faster regeneration and a somewhat increase in Strength.

Though those things aren’t to be joyful for, as Merlin will increase the weight if I get used to it

So let’s think about how I could resist gravity.

In theory, it’s easy to just use mana to redirect the force of gravity.

But that isn’t working.

So what should I do

"1005!... Wait..."

Suddenly, I remembered something I totally ignored for a while

’What if I use the Formula of Gravitation in Magic?’ I thought of this crazy idea

I looked back at the boulder, then at Merlin’s irritatingly calm face, and finally, I replayed the formula in my head:

F=Gr2m1 m2 .

Where:

F is the force of gravity (the downward pressure that I feel).

G is the Gravitational Constant (a fixed number).

m1 is the mass of the first object (Me and the boulder/Merlin).

m2 is the mass of the second object (the planet/ground).

r is the distance between the centers of the two masses (which is essentially constant during a push-up).

"Fighting the Force (F) is stupid. I’m just pushing against an invisible hand,"

I muttered while gritting my teeth.

"I have to change the rules of the game."

My initial tries had been brute-forcing and pushing mana upwards.

Like a desperate attempt to create an anti-force equal to Force.

It was exhausting, inefficient, and only managed to slightly slow my descent, as if trying to stop a waterfall with only a scoop.

"Alright, since Merlin wants me to learn to control Gravity through magic. That means controlling the cause and not just the effect," I reasoned while taking a shaky breath.

So I concentrated on the most manageable variable to conceptually mess with:

’G’—the Gravitational Constant.

It’s the designated value that states, "This is how much gravity affects mass on this planet."

If I could use my mana to tell my body that ’G’ was abruptly half its usual value, the force F acting on me would also be split.

It wasn’t about driving it back; it was about causing gravity itself to be weaker in my immediate vicinity.

I closed my eyes and ceased trying to push.

Rather, I directed my mana into a fine, swirling mesh that enveloped my skin and the massive boulder.

I didn’t direct the mana up or down.

I directed it inwardly into a concentrated bubble of negation.

I felt like trying to un-knit a fragment of a material with my mind.

I was reaching for a fundamental law and trying to whisper a different command.

Don’t oppose the push (Force); decrease the constant (Gravitation).

For a heartbeat, nothing happened, absolutely nothing.

The weight of 10,000 kilograms felt like a mountain on my back.

Then suddenly, a sharp pain flared up behind my eyes, and the world seemed to click into a different gear.

S-W-O-O-P.

The familiar, crushing pressure didn’t vanish, but it eased.

It felt no longer 10,000 kg, but perhaps around 7,000 kg.

I executed not how to push a massive force away, but I had just made the laws of nature temporarily less aggressive.

I shot up in a perfect and smooth push-up.

"1006!"

I celebrated my success, fueled with a surge of adrenaline.

Merlin lowered her magazine and looked from over the top of it.

"Took you long enough," she commented.

"Though that was sloppy. Your effective ’G’ field is fluctuating, and you’re wasting about 60% of your mana compensating for the ripple effect."

I dropped back down, not caring about the criticism.

The formula worked! I had a new, scientific mental model for the magic, and it was a thousand times more efficient than my old method.

It was now just a matter of refining my control.

My next aim is to reduce ’G’ to nearly zero.

I sank for the next rep, channeling the mana even deeper and focused on that single, powerful equation.

"1007!..." I gasped, determined to show her I could master this hellish training.

However, there was still one annoying thing remaining.

The comic that was still in her hand.

I was curious

"So why are you reading that porn magazine for guys, anyway? Are you into Yuri?"

I asked her right before sinking down to do another push-up.

She paused and answered with an unsure look, "I thought I was, but I don’t know anymore."

"Huh? What do you mean?" blurted out and almost lost control of the magic.

Merlin didn’t answer and jumped up from above the boulder.

"I’ll be back after a while, make sure you properly learn the magic," She said and left without showing her face.

"So what just happened?" I muttered in confusion, but shrugged it away and continued improving the magic.

.................

.......

After a few hours had passed, Merlin came back and this time started explaining things like a proper instructor.

But for some reason, her cheeks were a bit red, and her hair was damp like she had taken a shower.

"So there are power levels, whoa, that’s cool," I muttered in awe as she wrote down nine levels on a chalkboard that appeared out of nowhere.

"Yes, and actually, these levels were made as the universal standard for powerscaling before these. Every supernatural faction had its own system for power," She explained and pointed at the chalkboard.

"First of all, we have Phase Zero, where only powerless humans exist. That’s the stage where the being doesn’t have any kind of supernatural presence."

She muttered with a hint of indifference in her voice as if she didn’t give a shit about them.

"Then we have the First Phase of Origin Realm, also called the Genesis, the start of everyone to explore their own potential with the first origin level 1: Vessel.

For a rough estimate, all newborn supernaturals are actually in that level, though some may be stronger than that, but it’s only if the parents are in a higher level with a good bloodline."

As she explained, I understood that Vessl stage is just the starting point of supernaturals and the weakest stage, but even the weakest is 10x more powerful than the strongest phase zero human could be

And also at the vessel stage, they can’t consciously control their power.

Then we have the Origin level 2: Fragment.

In this stage, power could be controlled, but with great instability, and the user can’t properly use all the power they might have

Origin level 3: Conduit

Here, this makes somewhat of a change because they can somewhat use their power with some amount of control and stability.

They are a ’conduit’ of power, as she says

Origin level 4: Catalyst

This is the last level of the first Phase and also the stage where they can freely control their power and have become proficient in it. They are a catalyst for a bigger Change.

"What about the Second Phase" I asked as I looked at the second phase on the chalkboard with their name being more aristocratic

Merlin nodded and said, "The second phase is vastly different from the first here; the bridges between levels are a dozen times wider than before, and it gets even wider after each level."

"But for now, you should just know that advancing to the Noblesse phase is not just about power; you need to be able to make your presence in the world clear. Only then will you be able to find a way to this level."

She finished and made the chalkboard disappear.

"Then any questions, Valerian?" Merllin said to me with a smile on her face, expecting a question from me, like a good and wise teacher

Heh, no matter how much you act like a proper instructor, I know how much of a bitch you are

Anyway, I do need to ask a question.

"So what do I rank at in the powerscale?" I asked in anticipation