Endless Evolution: Last Star

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Time after time, Adam lifted the weights from the bench press, but the barbell had two disks instead of four.

The reason for this change was simple - Adam couldn't handle four disks.

No matter how physically strong he was, he couldn't bench press five tons. Perhaps for a higher level Phantom, it was a doable task, but not for Adam and not in an exercise like this.

His pectoral muscle strength wasn't enough to do it.

Was it a failure?

No, not for Tron who expected such a result.

In fact, he was surprised that Adam was able to lift a barbell with two discs that weighed about three tons the first time.

Tron's goal was quite simple - he wanted to teach Adam to do what he was capable of doing but not yet able to control it freely.

To do this, he needed Adam to no longer rely on his muscles.

He didn't need to hurt Adam or use any harsh methods to accomplish this. His goal was easily achievable, it needed Adam's muscles to be tired from the long workout.

It didn't matter how big and strong a person's muscles were, someone could easily bench press 200 kilograms from his chest, but the question wasn't quality, but quantity.

Will this person still manage to lift the same weight after 10 repetitions? Probably yes, it all depends on physical fitness.

But, what about 100 or 200 reps? Obviously, for a normal person, it is simply impossible to lift such a weight so many times in a row.

However, if a person could no longer lift the current weight, it did not mean that he should stop training.

In this case, the person simply took weights lighter from 200 kilograms going down to 150, then to 100, and even to 50.

This was done so that the tired muscles would still feel the strain of lifting lighter weights and the condition of the muscles would progress.

Thus, at the end of a long training session, a man who just came to the gym could easily lift 200 kilograms, now would not be able to handle even 50 kilograms and his muscles would be completely exhausted.

That's what Tron was doing now.

Crackle.

Time after time, he lowered the weight for Adam when he was exhausted.

Seeing that three tons was too much for him, Tron lowered the weight to 2 tons, then to 1, and even to a miserable 500 kilograms.

This continued until Adam reached 200 kilograms. This was a weight that Max, standing on the sidelines, could easily lift.

He ate a few sandwiches and was now drinking tea with lots of sugar, which Riska had carefully made for him.

Riska was nice to everyone. In this, she was different from Silvana who was ready to devote herself only to Adam.

However, Riska's top priority would forever be Tron. He wasn't just her Phantom, but the one who helped her escape from an unwanted life she didn't choose.

"Fuck... I can't take it anymore." Adam uttered with a heavy sigh before dropping the barbell off of him.

In the end, he couldn't even lift 200 kilograms, which was just a ridiculous weight for a K2-Phantom like him.

"Good. Now that your muscles are useless, we'll go back to three tons again." Tron said confidently before easily lifting the barbell and placing two dark green disks made from monster parts.

Adam's eyes went wide.

"Wait! I can't do this now! I can barely lift my arms! At least let me rest for a few minutes!"

Adam hurriedly got up from the bench but Tron's palm immediately crashed into his chest, bringing him back to his seat.

"No, if you rest, you'll use your muscles again. Adam, understand, you can't get stronger through muscle, you need to use energy."

Adam blinked a few times.

"Energy...?"

He was confused since Tron sounded strange.

Since Adam had become a Phantom, he already knew how to use energy otherwise he wouldn't be able to activate his abilities.

Therefore, he didn't understand what Tron was talking about.

"I think I know what you're thinking." Tron said in a slow voice before looking intently at Adam, "Remember your fight against Damien. Remember how weak your punches were when they landed on his body."

Adam flinched as the memories swooped into his mind.

For the duration of their fight, Damien had lowered his strength to Adam's level, but he was still much stronger.

"It's called Energy Control, it's a thing the Phantoms start learning at K2-Level because only then the Phantoms get enough freedom over their energy." Tron explained.

Then, he pointed to the barbell.

"It's different from how you use abilities. Then the energy acts as some sort of resource that you use to activate your ability, but... the purpose of Energy Control is quite different."

Adam narrowed his eyes, looking at Tron with interest.

"What's that? How else can I use my energy?"

Tron waved his hand.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

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"As a tool. It can be your weapon to boost the strikes of your fists or an amplification to fill your legs with energy to jump much higher. It can be your shield as Damien demonstrated, absorbing damage from attacks."

Adam gulped.

"A tool...? I see... You want me to use energy instead of muscle, right?"

Tron nodded.

"But don't expect to be able to do it right away since there's one problem."

"Hmm?" Adam tilted his head in confusion. He didn't think it would be easy, but he was determined to deal with it today.

One way or another, he wanted to get to the battles as soon as possible. Adam wanted to see what Tron was capable of in battle.

Sure, he had 84 more days, but Adam wasn't the kind of person who preferred to leave things to the last part of the deadline. If he could do something quicker, he tried to do it.

"Well, you're the Naturalborn Phantom, so this will be a task with an increased level of difficulty for you." Tron shrugged nonchalantly.

"Agh...?"