Dungeon Floor 1 Gravity Forest
Vincent POV
Gravity trees lined my training area as far as the eye could see. Seeds occasionally smashed hard into the ground, and mobs struggled to move within the forest. Despite the higher oxygen levels, the large centipedes rarely ventured to my training area. Like the T-rex, the big dinosaurs preferred the low gravity areas; it was better for their joints. Occasionally a roaming band of massive chickens crossed through the forest, hunting giant bugs in packs.
Instead of tilling the ground or doing pushups, I did some old-fashioned weapon strength training. I swung a weighted mace behind my back, over my shoulder, forward, and back again. The training would benefit swords and spears and help me build natural muscle where needed.
After each set, I counted, hoping to stop at 1000, but I was only up to 50 after three hours. It was a slow but steady grind. Moving improperly would only hurt my joints, and I gained more by focusing on my ki and facilitating my movements.
Every set came with beading sweat and satisfaction. My stats grew from the effort while I took my training seriously. From what I could recall, Goku nearly killed himself a lot during training. Saiyans might be able to adapt and grow ever stronger from that, but as a human, I needed to teach my ki how to deal with more than my body. There also wasn’t a ridiculous time limit. The seven days straight was only a personal goal. It would be 14 days with plenty of rest in between for me.
After two hours of training, I found a stopping point and moved to a lower gravity area.
I took a long drink from my canteen and enjoyed the taste of nice cool water.
Fourteen days was a long time, but Tera helped out. There were plenty of herbs in the further reaches of floor 1.
This wasn’t the most dangerous place to train; that was the deeper areas where temperatures changed rapidly along with gravity. That’s where I left the stray and where some of Tera’s abominations roamed.
While I rested during training, besides texting Rias, I studied alchemy. I was getting good enough to start making basic healing ointments. They were more salves than potions or pills, but they helped soothe my muscles well enough. Training for fourteen days straight would be impossible without them, even with my high endurance stat. Fortunately, I didn’t plan to push myself like that.
There was a low-gravity area on the other side of the gravity forest where I planned to build my workshop. Yes, I was culturally appropriating maguses, but in my defense, I didn’t care.
Asia had already paid for herself. My SP was filling up at a steady rate. That gave me a little money to work with. Building a healing pod might not be so impossible after all. Healing salve could be refined into healing potions with enough skill and the right appliances.
I finished my day sore but happy. The weighted mace felt much lighter by the end, and I was ready to move on to my workshop.
SP was the currency of the land, and I wasn’t talking about stamina points. I purchased an acre of foundation and placed it in an area with near-earth gravity. Resting in a place that felt comfortable was important. Red lightning flickered over the ground, and a perfectly even concrete slap appeared.
There were ways to make it myself with telekinesis, but I hadn’t developed mine yet. I didn’t know how. There was so much I didn’t know or know where to begin. Flight seemed to be around my limit. I was a little scared to use ki blasts. I didn’t know how much damage I could do with them. Wiping out a part of Tera’s first floor sounded like a bad play.
I searched through various materials for the walls of my workshop and picked an alloy I liked. Wood wasn’t going to cut it. Gravity tree wood had its own gravitational fields that would alter the gravity around them. I chose a good-sized vault door for the entrance and started work on the interior.
Notebooks weren’t very expensive, so I started writing my research notes.
Healing pod 1.0 was a bathtub with warm healing salve puree filling it. The bottom of the bathtub was padded and waterproof. It wouldn’t be completely uncomfortable. My oxygen mask fit snugly on my face, but it wasn’t too bad. I climbed in and felt the liquid healing salve soak into me.
The oxygen pump dissolved a little in the healing liquid after 3 hours. I was lucky to wake up before holding my breath became life-threatening. Learning the salve was acidic enough to melt the hardy plastic of the oxygen pump hose was a blow to my resolve. I ended up buying a bed and jumping into it.
Another 6 hours later, I was ready to deal with my mess. The SP was still increasing steadily, so I could begin spending a little. I bottled the remaining healing liquid in the tub and flew back to the cabin to drop them off. Mittelt wasted no time hawking them as legit healing potions. That’s what they were, if a little tainted by my butt crack.
There probably wouldn’t be any problems since they were health potions. I only sold them for 10SP a piece, and they could heal someone training less than a month back to full health. Later I found out Mittelt sold them for 15SP, but I wouldn’t begrudge her the merchant’s fee.
Most of my protein came in the form of chicken. Those bug-chasing little bastards were tasty and were excellent at turning bugs into delicious protein. I had so many sauces to put on them and all the cool spring water I could drink. The 14 days were spent experimenting with my healing pod, selling potions, and good old-fashioned training.
By day 10, I stopped trying to sleep in my bathtub and started soaking for an hour, then cleaning my equipment.
PL 549
Being human has its own detriments. While I had no outrageous weaknesses in DXD, I wasn’t completely overpowered either. My stat gains were steady, and so were my PL gains. Training worked well enough, and I was on my way to getting to the 1000 limit. My power was already higher than Goku’s at the beginning of Z. That was mostly due to the environment and plentiful healing items.
Not being able to get Zenkai’s really pissed me off. But I lived in a dungeon and had her ear.
“Tera, if I were to get the DNA of a creature that grew stronger every time it recovered from almost dying, could you make it into an ability.” That was the question. Could she take a Saiyan’s inborn genetic traits and turn them into an equipable ability. “Get me the DNA, and I will try to figure something out. Abilities are more magic than not, but we’ll see.” Tera said.
I nodded. All I needed to do was find the grave of one of the Saiyans like Vegeta or Raditz. Even Goku or Gohan would work; Gohan would most likely be the best choice. If she could make abilities from Saiyan genetics, could she do the same with the DNA of others? Could she give me the power of destruction or the worthless bloodline power?
After another awesome training day, I decided that was a problem for future Vincent. Gohan, even wounded, wasn’t someone I could mess with. The Satans probably had hacks to hit above their weight class, and I wasn’t sure I was so high above them. I was only halfway to being on the lesser end of fodder.
I considered middle fodder around Nappa and high fodder as Saiyan saga Vegeta. There was so much training I needed to do, but the gravity trees were helping me make rapid progress. My training method seemed to be the right decision as well. Sometimes old school worked the best.
…
DXD International Waters
The extreme cold of the mesosphere and the harsh heat of the thermosphere made for a reliable training environment. Old school was often the most reliable, and what was more reliable than braving the element with ki alone. Defending myself from the element felt different than supporting my body against high gravity. It was like working a completely different set of muscles. Both exercises increased my ki control, and through it, my PL I wasn’t in the thousands yet, but it was only a matter of time. Existing in the area between extreme heat and cold was swinging my mace felt good. My next big move for training would be developing a technique to extract oxygen from the water with ki alone.
My first instinct was to use magic or have Tera make an ability, but that could wait for the water floor. Floor 2 was still in the planning stages though it had a good chance of being based on heaven and hell. The stray devil died, and her soul and demonic power were absorbed. The new raid boss would be interesting.
After an hour of practice, I moved on to what I flew up to do, Ki blasts.
I cupped my hands and gathered energy between them. A soft blue glow erupted in the night, blinding and powerful. It built and grew bright until it felt like my hands would scorch. With a hard push, I unleashed a beam attack into the sky.
My energy levels felt barely touched. It was an incredible feeling. I just used a ki blast. More than that, I used one, and I was fine; my END stat did the heavy lifting.
I shot down and flew across the ocean until I spotted a boulder. This time was different. I wouldn’t shoot a beam into space; my target would be on Earth.
My precautions were getting experience and lowering the concentration of energy. I pointed my finger at the rock and slowly gathered energy. A soft blue light gathered faster than before. I released the beam before it could get out of control. The beam bore into the rock and boiled the sea behind it. I stopped the attack; my ki was more than ready to go and blow shit up. The ease of destruction was eye-opening. Testing myself before becoming more powerful was the right thing to do.
My phone pinged. Rias wanted to meet at her school.
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