There stood Asher, in the garden of the academy, his gaze fixated on the fist clenched in front of him. He learned a few things about his aspect:
Firstly, his range of controlling gravity is only 50 meters around him. The closer he is to the distortion of gravity, the more intense the gravity gets unless Asher chooses otherwise. For example, Asher could crush an apple that was 2-3 meters away from him by intensifying the gravity around it, however, if the apple was 50 meters away from him, all he could do is wobble it a bit. However, Asher's innate ability, [Gravitic Resonance], allows him to sense his surroundings for 5 km.
Secondly, even if something is at point-blank range to him (like air, for example), he still can't bend the space-time around him as he simply hasn't reached that stage yet.
Lastly, after Asher consumes an awakened soul shard he got from his appointment, he realised that the gravity range and intensity increase a bit with every soul fragment he gets.
"It's not as busted as I thought," Asher mumbled to himself. "It's still like I have the power of telekinesis albeit, I can't control shit!" However, Asher still had a frown on his face as he thought, 'In my first nightmare, my range was about 500 meters since I shifted Eurys' gravity from quite far away. It's like I regressed a rank instead of increasing when I agreed to evolve my aspect.' He looked at his own hands as he saw a wobble effect on reality, which could be seen through his eyes for now as they were special.
"Hey, Asher! The introductory combat class is going to begin!" One of the middle-class sleepers called. Asher wiped a bead of sweat as he nodded.
During Asher's appointment, he explained that his aspect was ascended and allowed him to change the weight of his body or a part of it, which was one of his many abilities as Weight = Mass X Gravity.
"Take it from a physics student, baby!"
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Soon, Asher found himself in a large dojo, seated next to Changing Star. The sleepers were taking turns delivering their strongest punches to a wide plate attached to a special measuring machine. Nephis looked on with rare interest, Asher, meanwhile, was shamelessly scrutinizing Nephis openly.
'She looks hot.' He mused silently.
Soon, Nephis was called, Asher looked around for two seconds and finally saw an inconspicuous shadow spying on the dojo. Asher gave the shadow a hearty grin, which made Sunny shudder, "No way that bastard saw my shadow!" Sunny yelled to himself, soon shifting his gaze to Nephis, who got a score of 16.
Nephis took her seat next to Asher again and looked at him with an intense gaze.
.
.
.
'Does she want me to say something?' he thought before coughing, "You are quite strong," he blurted out awkwardly. Nephis simply nodded in response, as she detached her eyes from Asher and looked in front at Caster, who got a 21.
Of course, everyone looked stunned seeing Caster's display, but the latter simply gazed at Nephis and Asher, both looked indifferent which made Caster's face a bit bitter.
Instructor Rock smiled as he finally called upon Asher. Nephis, Caster, and Sunny looked on with keen eyes. With a deep breath, Asher delivered his punch, only to be met with a lackluster score of 8.
Asher stuck his tongue out while scratching his head, "That's the best I got." Sunny spat out the water he was drinking as he began to laugh. It was not just him, all his classmates began to laugh as well. Even Caster chuckled a bit! Asher sat next to Nephis and gave her the same gaze she gave him. "You are quite weak," she stated bluntly, eliciting a dry chuckle from Asher.
The Rock gave a disappointed look to Asher before he spoke, "Now, we will move to sparring and evaluate your general level of training. I need two volunteers to begin."
Nephis glanced at Asher as she stood up along with a muscular dude. Asher sighed as he got up and held Nephis by the shoulder, "Can I fight?" he asked with a smile.
Nephis looked at Asher's eyes for a few seconds before she said with the same stoic face, "Ok."
Asher made his way to the ring as Nephis observed the scene with a keen interest, her expression betraying nothing of her inner thoughts.
She was particularly intrigued by how a Dreamspawn like Asher would handle himself in combat, despite his less-than-impressive performance in the strength test.
Meanwhile, Sunny couldn't contain his excitement as he cheered Asher on. "Finally! That bastard will get the beating he deserves! I support you, muscle man!" he exclaimed
The muscle man looked at Asher and laughed, "Hey, pipsqueak! No hard feelings when I plummet your pretty face to the ground, ok?"
The crowd started to laugh as well while Nephis and Caster looked on with indifference. "Be quiet everyone," The Rock's authoritative voice cut through the chatter, commanding silence as he addressed the contenders. "The rules are simple," he explained, his gaze shifting between Asher and his opponent. "Make your opponent's back touch the floor or throw them out of the ring. Use whatever abilities and techniques you find appropriate."
Both nodded, With a smirk, Asher's opponent boasted about his score, taunting Asher with his superiority. "You know, I got a score of 17, right? That's one more than that Nephis girl! What is someone like you, who got a mere eight, going to do? Hahaha!" he jeered.
Asher shrugged, "I don't know."
"You may begin," The Rock said. the muscle man wasted no time, charging at Asher with clenched fists. The spectators braced themselves for a quick defeat, but to their surprise, Asher simply stood there with his hands in his pockets, an air of calm surrounding him.
'It's over,' The Rock sighed as he thought. However, what happened next made his eyes widen.
Everything was in slow motion for AsherWith almost casual grace, he shifted his neck just enough to evade the muscle man's incoming punch. Then, in a move that seemed almost effortless, he unleashed a swift kick to the chest, his right leg enveloped in a faint aura that seemed to warp the very air around it.
The muscle man's eyes widened in shock as the force of the blow sent him hurtling backwards, crashing unceremoniously into the dojo wall with a resounding thud.
(A/N: If any of you are wondering how on earth Asher can increase the force of his punches or kicks with Gravity. Just think of it as Yuki's Star rage (From JJK, ask Google-senpai if you don't know.), since he is adding weight to his body, nothing more. However, his muscles began to squeeze in themselves while he augmented due to the increase in weight, so the weight he can add is very limited unless he is willing to give up an arm or two. So he is not broken like Yuki. Dw dw.)
For a moment, the crowd was frozen in disbelief, their mouths agape as they processed what they had just witnessed. Then, as if on cue, a collective murmur of "Eh?" rippled through the spectators.
Nephis, ever the enigma, tilted her head slightly, her expression unreadable as she blinked in confusion. Nearby, Caster felt a shiver run down his spine, an unexplained sense of unease settling over him as he watched the scene unfold.
Sunny, meanwhile, had bloodshot eyes as he stood up from his chair, "How the fuck did he do that!" he spat, "The machine is obviously broken if it showed that that power was 8! It should at least be 20! No, 25 even! I mean, that bulky ass went flying and was only stopped by a wall that was reinforced to resist awakened blows! This guy is a sleeper like me!" Everyone had their thoughts snapped as they heard Asher click his tongue, "Tsk, I even held back."
"EHHH?!?!" the throng collectively shouted. Asher started walking up to the muscle man, catching the perplexed Rock's attention, "I will get this big guy to the infirmary, I shall come back soon." And like that, Asher left, without waiting for a reply. The Rock snapped out of his daze and cleared his throat, "Alright, we shall continue with the sparring till Sleeper Asher comes back. I need two volunteers again."
Asher stood in the corridor, the unconscious muscle man slung over his left shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He glanced down at his own leg, a thoughtful expression crossing his face. "Sprained it with just one attack," he mused inwardly, noting the strain the added weight had put on his limb. "Guess I'll need to be more careful about using my aspect in the academy from now on."
Despite the discomfort, Asher couldn't help but feel a sense of relief. "At least I've got a good excuse to visit the infirmary," he thought wryly, grateful for the opportunity to have his injury tended to before it became a bigger problem. "Shouldn't take them long to heal a sprain, thankfully."
(A/N: If confused, understand that gravity is just an invisible force acting upon you and weight is just the product of mass and gravity. In Asher's case, the mass of his leg is the same, so at a point, his leg might just break if Asher puts too much gravity on it)
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Asher returned just in time to witness the rematch between Caster and Nephis, a spectacle he found amusing even though he knew what would happen.
When The Rock called for Asher's turn, he took his place opposite Caster, his expression determined and his stance mirrored Nephis' with his [Eidetic Perception] ability. Nephis' eyes widened as she saw the stance, while Caster grimaced.
"Begin."
Sunny was on the edge of his seat. He wasn't sure if Asher was using his aspect, but Caster definitely was as he disappeared in a blink of an eye. Caster was looking forward to ending the fight with a single punch, but his expression froze as he saw Asher dodging. Caster immediately got serious as he thought, 'This mongrel can see me just like Lady Nephis.'
The next second, he was upon Asher again, this time faster. Caster's face quickly turned into a scowl when he saw Asher's hand slowly creeping onto his hand. He immediately used his leg to kick Asher into a pincer attack. Asher was sweating beads of sweat.
'This bastard is fast! Even if I use my aspect, I don't think I can win against him. And this guy isn't even taking this fight seriously.' Asher frowned as he gritted his teeth.
Caster was indeed not taking Asher seriously, in order to preserve his life force. Caster only goes all out with those whom he deems worthy to face his wrath. He knew that the outskirt rat was simply lucky with his aspect. He could feel that Asher didn't have the murder math that he and Nephis had. So he only decided to go 50% of his maximum speed.
He was barely keeping up with Caster as his body was not fast enough. Unlike his body in the Nightmare, his body in the waking world is not that strong. In fact, his body was weaker than Sunny's at this point in time. (9 in the device without shadow augmentation)
But this body, however, aside from being extremely beautiful, was also absurdly flexible! Asher gracefully dodged Caster's attacks with a bend backwards that would make John Wick proud. Seizing the opportunity for a counterattack, Asher aimed a swift kick at Caster's crotch. Caster however was not aware of the kick threatening to end his children, preoccupied with his impending victory as he went in to punch Asher in the chest, and didn't notice the incoming blow until it was too late.
With a wink and a mischievous grin, Asher's kick found its mark, eliciting a sharp cry of pain from Caster. However, Asher's triumph was short-lived as Caster's retaliatory strike landed squarely on his chest, sending him crashing to the ground. To add insult to injury, Asher's other leg seemed magnetically attracted to Caster's sensitive area, resulting in a double hit that left both combatants writhing in agony.
Sunny winced in sympathetic pain while Nephis discreetly averted her gaze, unwilling to witness the unfortunate spectacle unfolding before her. Meanwhile, 'A double hit. Ouch,' Sunny thought. Caster's eyes turned bloodshot as he held his crotch with both his hands while panting for breath.
Asher felt a sharp pain in his chest as he got up from the floor and looked at Caster with a thoughtful look. 'The poor guy only has a year to live. Augmenting my kick would have undoubtedly broken his balls. It's his fault for letting his guard down on me. He could have ended the fight the first second if he used his full speed from the get-go as I wouldn't have time to react.' He suddenly smirked as he looked, while glancing at a dying Caster.
Despite the situation, he couldn't help but chuckle at his own words. "Hey, you know what they say. You may have won, but at what cost?" His laughter bubbled up uncontrollably, mixing with a tinge of self-awareness at the absurdity of his statement.
He wasn't even laughing about Caster's situation. No. He was a man who had respect. Rather, he found himself amused by the unintentional cringe factor of his remark. "Am I slowly becoming a zero-personality, emo Isekai MC?" he pondered with a hint of self-deprecation, his laughter mingling with a touch of disdain for the stereotype.
Caster, meanwhile, finally looked at Asher while gritting his teeth in pain. He began to mumble under his breath, "I swear upon the Hang Li clan, I will kill you one day!"