Planet Press was just a short teleport away.

It was much less barren than Planet Pull—it actually seemed a real planet, with circular oceans running between sprawling land-masses, some fuzzy with greenery, others great swathes of desert. Zane saw a few volcanoes near the poles.

There were even some folk living here, Zane saw, as they beamed down. Speckles of lights over the continents—the Barbarian Sage said he knew some of their chiefs. Went down for drinks with them sometimes. They knew where the Barbarian Sage kept his training zones, and steered clear.

There were also creatures roaming the lands, and they were quite big—Zane saw snakes fat as a school buses uncurling from thirty-foot-tall trees. Dinosaur-like beasts stomped about, mouths rife with gleaming teeth, spikes running down their bodies.

The Barbarian Sage led Zane to a staircase carved deep into the face of a cliff—each step hundreds of feet long, the entrance looming over them, filled with a fiery red glow.

“This brings back memories,” sighed the Sage. “Been a while since I was back. I remember chaining up each of these continents by hand. They’re heavier than they look, with all those giant beasts on ‘em. And the ground’s got lots of adamantine, too—damned dense. Right—come along, lad.”

Zane wasn’t sure what to make of all that.

The two of them descended into the depths.

They bounded down dozens of steps at a time, each step shaking the walls, loosening clumps of dirt. But soon the walls grew so hard-packed they stopped shivering. And soon after that, lava streaks started running down their sides. A deep churning groaning reverberated throughout, the slow grinding of magma.

Then they reached the bottom.

It was like descending into the basement of the planet. A dingy, dark place lit only by flares of red light—pools of searing lava. Beyond that, it ran into the endless gloom in all directions.

Near the staircase there was a pit filled with Spirit Water. And another packed with more Sky-grade Steel. At the center of that vast room lay what looked like a sacrificial altar. A solemn block of welded steel with runes scribed down its sides.

Gobs of lava dripped down all around, steaming onto the ground…

Zane looked up.

The ceiling was all dark stone and darker steel—and molten spiderweb cracks shot through them, offering the only other light. That churning noise boomed down louder than ever.

That was no ceiling…

“That’s there’s a tectonic plate,” said the Barbarian Sage. He pointed into the distance—Zane squinted and saw rune-carved chains holding the entire thing aloft, all along its sides. Stopped it from crushing them.

“That’s some of the finest steel you could buy,” said the Sage. “It’s got to be, to hold up all that!”

The Sage grinned. “We’re right below what the local tribes call the ‘Sea of Wrath.’”

He pointed up. “There’s hundreds of miles of stone and adamantium. And above that? A whole ocean’s worth of giant whales, and giant kraken, and giant sharks—all kinds of fun stuff! It’s quite some weight, I’ll tell you. About 1.4P, last I checked? I was planning on waiting ‘till you were Minor God to try it. Ascendant bodies weren’t meant to handle weight like this…”

The Sage shrugged. “But I’ll leave it to you, lad.”

Zane took in that vast swathe of steel and stone, the massive ecosystems heaving above him.

The Sage cocked a brow. “So! What do you say?”

Zane’s biceps still felt sore, but pressing used very different muscle groups. His biceps were still experiencing the soreness of growth—they were scalding to the touch… it was a very pleasant thing. Zane quite enjoyed it.

It was the feeling of strength.

Then the weight seemed to him just another foe. A strong one.

There was no better way to interest him.

“Give it to me,” said Zane firmly.

The Sage grinned. “Thought so.”

Zane strode up to the altar.

It was, he saw now, a bench.

He lay back down on it, felt the muscles of his back cushion him slightly against the stone.

“Just one more thing,” called the Sage from a few yards away. He was out there cranking some chain, operating the machinery of the place. The ceiling was slowly descending…

“A little stubbornness—that’s a great thing in a warrior. And it’ll give you some damned good growth, seems like. But for this one, especially, you’ve got to recognize when you're about to give out. Otherwise—well—”

Stolen novel; please report.

The Sage made a flattening gesture with a fist and a palm. And also a crunching sound effect.

“Well—I ‘spose it’d be a test of durability then,” he said, scratching his head. “Might not be half bad, now that I think of it… but we’ve got other planets to train that, eh?”

“Sure,” said Zane, nodding. Seemed reasonable to him. “When I believe I’ll fail, I’ll let you know.”

“Great!”

He lay all the way down on the bench. Put up his arms.

“Here it comes!” said the Sage. “Dropping… now!”

There was a vast WHOOSH.

Then the ceiling—the continent, and all the matter, an entire living world—came crashing down right over Zane.

1.4 planets’ worth of weight met Zane’s open palms… and his arms buckled.

It was an immensity like Zane had never felt before—a weight that would shock any man. It was the shock of planetary scale—a weight meant to be lived on, not carried; it took most years to get used to the feeling. And even then there would be some fear in their hearts, coming up to such a thing.

The impact nearly flattened Zane then and there.

But it was just like a fight—like being smashed by a heavy first blow to Zane.

It just served to wake him up.

An instant later, he fought right back.

His upper body lit up in an explosion of rippling heat. Zane let out a furious bellow, and shoved.

He called the muscles rippling through his chest, thick cords of them rippling the backs of his arms, capping his thick shoulders—he called every last ounce of strength to battle. And exerted the single greatest force he’d ever made.

His arms trembled, tinged red with effort and blood, as they heaved the continent back up. But when they locked out, straining to their maximums, they held firm.

“That’s it!” roared the Barbarian Sage. “Hells yes, lad! You think you’ve got another one in you? Or—”

Slowly Zane dropped the weight down. Felt the rock touch his chest, heard a stream of lava sizzling against his skin.

By then he was peaking. With another roar he forced the weight back up, feeling a searing pain running down his chest, his muscles stretched to their limits—beyond—

“Looks like that’s enough, lad! I’m taking it now—” said the Sage.

“No,” growled Zane.

And he forced out another grinding rep.

The Sage stood there speechless.

Zane tasted blood in his mouth—he was feeling quite light-headed—but the weight was just another foe in his mind now. He would not lose to it. He was not done yet.

He brought it down low again, his whole upper body screaming. And shoved.

For a moment, his muscles shivered. Caught between two great forces—the force of that planet, and the force of Zane’s will, and even built solid as they were they were struggling.

Zane just would not have it. He would not fail. He believed that with all his heart—it was who he was.

His body responded.

The weight began to move.

Going up, inch by trembling inch. And Zane felt a triumphant rush in his heart. He was on the verge of locking it out full when heard the Barbarian Sage cry out in shock.

The last thing he remembered was hearing a massive ripping. Then—CRUNCH! CLANG!

Then there was silence—and also an immense pain.

A pain spiking down his chest, shoulders, arms—but also his face, his ribs...

He felt quite woozy. Like he’d been punched very, very hard. It wasn’t enough to knock Zane out—that had never happened before. But it got pretty close. Sounds, feelings, all came to him in a strange blur…

Warning!

Health under 75%

Warning!

Health under 50%

His nose seemed to have just taken the full force of a continent. It’d shattered. Along with quite a few other parts of him, it felt like.

“…”

Zane considered his position, frowning.

A few seconds later there was cranking sound. The darkness lifted, and there was the Barbarian Sage, yanking the continent back up. He came over to Zane’s side.

Zane still lay there, pretty shattered.

The Sage looked like he didn't know whether to be proud or stern.

He ended up helping Zane off the altar. Some good steel, and Zane was quickly back on the mend. He gave Zane some Spirit Water, which was just enough to put him over—

Level up!

Essence Level 403 -> 404

“Look, lad,” said the Barbarian Sage, patting him on the shoulder. “Hell of a lift. But you’ve got to know when to call it quits!”

Zane was still a bit confused on the matter.

He’d been telling the truth—he was planning on letting the Barbarian Sage know when he thought he would fail.

He just didn’t believe he would. Up until the moment everything collapsed suddenly, he was quite certain he would do it.

“Your muscles hit their limits on the second rep!” cried the Sage.

“I did four,” said Zane, confused.

“…Yeah,” said the Sage, scratching his head. “I don’t get it either.”

They blinked at each other.

The two of them eventually just figured that Zane had a bit of trouble recognizing his physical limits.

He knew in his head he could be beaten. But his heart had trouble giving up on things. Some deep-down part of him would rather break than fail.

The Barbarian Sage figured it was also why he could push past his limits—why he could get more out of his body than anyone else. He figured it must have something to do with Zane’s soul and his Asura State—the way his soul and body were melded. Mind over matter, and all that.

It was also why Zane was always a bit surprised when things failed on him. When things came crashing down it was always a sudden thing. Only neither of them had a good way to know when it’d happen.

Part of Zane felt a bit silly looking up at that tectonic plate…

All he felt was an eagerness to throw himself right back at it. His heart didn’t want to back down. That it had defeated him at three just made him more eager, if anything.

He was sure he could get four next time. He wanted it again.

If Reina were here, he felt like she would give him one of her little sighs. He could almost hear her—‘Oh, Zane…’

The Barbarian Sage was silent for a bit, thinking. “Well,” he said at last. “Least you’re getting some good growth out of it, eh? Your chest’s smoldering in the Astral Plane! Seems pushing that far’s done wonders for growth.”

Zane nodded. Sure enough, when he looked down:

Titan Growth Stimulus: 82%

He could feel the muscle healing by the second, coming back denser....

“From now, how about I spot you?” said the Sage. “I’ll call it when I’m pretty sure you’re at your real limit.”

“No.” Zane shook his head.

“Call it when it crushes me,” he told the Sage.

“…”

A pause.

Then the Sage got a bit teary-eyed. “That’s the most beautiful thing I ever heard,” he said.