Eric's expression grew solemn. "Ly, Liv, I will be doing something very important, and later both of you also need to do the same. During this time, one of you must stay here, or else I might end up in a life-threatening situation."
Lyria and Livy's expressions changed upon hearing Eric would be in a life-and-death condition. They didn't speak or interrupt him. They were already mature and grown-up enough to understand they were no longer walking a childish and safe path, and they might have to take on life-threatening tasks at any time—and that was what they should do to grow.
The Gravity Level could only be controlled from outside. Even if Eric could handle Level 1, after tiring himself enough, he wouldn't have the strength to walk out of the Gravitational Array Circle on the ground. If he was in critical condition and no one closed it, there was a high chance he would suffocate and die. It would depend on how terrible his condition became as he kept progressing with his squats.
In that sense, Eric was only grateful he had brought Lyria and Livy to this island. Otherwise, by himself, who knew how much he could truly accomplish in terms of professions? And in the current situation, if he was unlucky, he would have surely died in a laughable way.
"While I am inside the Array Circle, keep the Gravitational Level at 1, and keep it like that until either I tell you to stop or I have fallen unconscious. Otherwise, no matter what… don't stop the Array. Understand?" Eric spoke sternly, guarding against either Lyria or Livy getting too worried and stopping it prematurely.
Lyria and Livy both nodded hesitantly. They were suddenly very concerned by Eric's request, but they could only take a deep breath and brace themselves. They didn't want to bring trouble or inconvenience to Eric due to their love and care.
Eric smiled. "I'm heading in. Ly, change the Array to Level 1 when I say. Liv, you can go do what you were doing. Both of you can switch positions and take breaks—this might take a day or two. Also, don't talk and make as little noise as possible."
Eric turned and walked toward the Array Circle. He didn't need to be at the center, but he also shouldn't be in a corner—in case, if he lost his balance or accidentally stepped out of the Array's affected zone.
Lyria and Livy froze in horror upon hearing Eric planned to stay within Level 1 for a day or two! Even after they had become much stronger than before, standing straight for even three hours had been hellish, as they had tried before.
After positioning himself, Eric turned and nodded at the two frozen figures.
He didn't dare waste another moment; he was already feeling jittery. "Ly, get ready."
After speaking, Eric pulled out a black cloth to blindfold himself. As he did, he spoke in mind, "Riya, this won't count as foreign object help, would it?"
"It won't." Riya's answer was simple, as this wasn't the time for jokes.
She intentionally avoided mentioning that Eric's outfit would only increase the difficulty, accelerating exhaustion and even pain as he progressed with his squats.
Normally, Eric wouldn't have missed such obvious details, but right now, he wasn't calm enough.
The reason Riya didn't remind him was that 100,000 was just a number. He might not even need to go all the way, but he definitely needed to push himself until his body nearly broke. His current outfit, blindfold, and any other objects on his body would only increase the difficulty and shorten the count—but that didn't mean he should carry excessive weight, or else it wouldn't function as a trial.
Eric tied the blindfold over his head, covering his eyes. It was necessary to prevent distraction. Eyes consumed too much energy—so did the brain. With his eyes closed, he was one step closer to "closing" his mind. Now, all he had to do was focus on his task.
Lyria activated Level 1 of the Gravitational Array, and Eric immediately felt something trying its hardest to force him toward the ground—but it was still bearable.
Lysandra had taken precautions—or perhaps a true Array Master accounted for every possible hindrance. Neither the ground nor the roof was affected by gravity. Everything was stable except him. Likely, the entire hill and cave had been reinforced countless times to avoid disturbing the Arrays planted on the island.
Once he felt the gravity increase, Eric lifted his arms perpendicular to his body and began his squats.
He started at high speed—five in one second under the Array's effect. Normally, he could go much faster.
By the time he reached 100, he could no longer maintain that momentum. Bending down required extreme control—if he let gravity take over, he'd lose balance: his hands would drop or his spine would bend too far. Rising back up demanded precision in both balance and strength.
Soon, Eric hit 1,000 in 10–15 minutes. He was already sweating but otherwise fine. He knew pressure and tension would keep accumulating. His initial 4–5 squats per second had already dropped to 1 per second—and would only decline further.
By 10,000 squats, 4–5 hours had passed. He was close to losing count—and sense of time. He'd anticipated this; it was also necessary for his Intelligence stat trial.
His physical condition had deteriorated drastically. He felt like he couldn't go on—as if he'd sprinted 1,000 miles at full speed, an impossibility by mortal standards.
His arms felt severed, numb to the point he couldn't sense them—but he knew they were still there, so he kept going.
He was glad he'd blindfolded himself—otherwise, the energy drain would've been massive.
He grew irritated by the blindfold, Ring, and clothes—but consciously ignored it all. Slowly, his thoughts faded under extreme exhaustion.
Soon, Eric lost track of time and count. All he knew was: 'Down. Up.' No matter how slow, he had to keep his bones straight—arms, spine—while maintaining balance. He stopped thinking of them as "hands." Eventually, he forgot he even had a body.
He commanded his arms, knees, and every part of himself to hold posture and continue.
Night fell. Lyria and Livy had remained in the Gravity room the entire time.
They didn't sit—they couldn't, knowing what Eric was enduring.
They bit their lips silently, refusing to cry out. They only prayed this hell would end soon.
Even though both of them were outside the Array's effect, internally they felt as exhausted as Eric, all due to their strong wish to share his burden and experience. But no matter how terrible they felt, they knew they had responsibilities, and so almost every hour, they took countless glances at the Array level controller.
They kept an eye on whether Eric lost consciousness, but even though he was breathing as if he hadn't breathed for days, he still kept going. His momentum had gone down considerably, but he still maintained his posture and never lost his balance.
Neither Lyria nor Livy ever tried counting, as they didn't know what the target count was, and just stood still. They even breathed as quietly as possible to avoid distracting Eric's focus and determination.
Soon, it was dawn. Both Lyria and Livy had blood streaming down their lower lips from how hard they had bitten themselves for so long, yet they had no intention of reducing their biting strength—in fact, they hadn't even registered they were bleeding.
They had felt some pain, but their focus was only on Eric's terrible condition and had no time or mood to glance at each other.
They were quietly waiting for Eric to lose consciousness or tell them to stop, but he kept going with no intention of stopping.
He was now much slower, doing only one complete squat every five to ten seconds, but he maintained his form as it had been since the beginning.
From the outside, aside from his heavy breathing, sweat, bloody nose and mouth, and trembling body, everything somehow still looked fine—but they knew just how much Eric was pushing himself. Perhaps he had already lost consciousness while his body moved on its own. Sadly, since he hadn't fallen yet, they couldn't judge, nor could they stop it.
After midnight, Eric's body suddenly trembled. It was clearly noticeable despite his already shaking body.
Lyria and Livy felt their hearts nearly leap out of their mouths, but before they could do anything, they noticed Eric wasn't stopping, so they could only continue to wait.
Riya, at this moment, released a silent breath. Eric had finally broken through his Intelligence stats, and she already sensed massive changes happening inside him. But she didn't dare speak or check his condition—if she did, Eric would surely be disturbed, given how sensitive his body was at that moment.
Riya quietly sat. She knew moving within the Mind Space wouldn't disturb Eric's focus, but just like Lyria and Livy, she was frozen in place.
She just hoped this trial would end soon; she knew it would eventually. The Intelligence stat breakthrough had already proved her calculations correct.
Eric, meanwhile, felt his mind jolt awake with deep vitality. He felt a strange peace within himself, but given how beaten his entire body was, he didn't have time to sit back and enjoy anything.
He was too focused on not falling while keeping his balance, so he remained completely ignorant of his Intelligence stat breakthrough.
He didn't know since when, but he seemed to have even forgotten what he was, what he was doing, or why. But no matter what, he kept doing the same thing, ensuring it continued.
He knew he was coming close to 'something", but he didn't know what—perhaps death. But he had even forgotten what being alive was. All he knew was that he had to keep going.
On the second day after Eric started, he felt he had broken through some shackles. Strangely, it felt very 'loud' to him. It wasn't just one shackle, but multiple, all breaking at the same time. He didn't want to care—he just wanted to keep doing whatever he was doing.
But due to multiple shackles breaking simultaneously, the disturbance was so violent that his body trembled uncontrollably, and he lost his balance and fell.
The moment his back touched the ground, he lost consciousness.
Riya nearly jumped with delight, but the first thing she did was check whether the Gravitational Array was still active. Eric's body was undergoing massive changes, so she didn't dare probe his condition.
A moment later, the Gravity Array deactivated, and Riya breathed a sigh of relief. Given Eric's current state, if the Array hadn't shut down, he would have died without question.
Lyria and Livy rushed in, and just as Livy was about to touch Eric, Lyria grabbed her shoulder to stop her.
"Stop! Don't touch or shake him right now—go get thin cushions, bedsheets, and water," Lyria spoke softly, careful not to hurt Eric's ears.
Both Lyria and Livy ignored their own lower jaws, which were covered in blood.
Livy acknowledged and hurried to complete the tasks.
Riya sighed in relief again. Thankfully, Lyria was level-headed—touching or shaking Eric at that moment would have been disastrous. But given how rapidly his body was changing, he should recover soon.