The Master of Cards Chapter 11: Physical Bottleneck

Alex returned to the dojo with the old man. The old man ribbed him. "Did you see my contacts? How rich are they?"

Alex didn't care much about money. "Are they powerful Card Users?"

Old Ren nodded. "You can say so." But he did not elaborate much more.

Alex asked the old man. "Old man, is there a difference between the Fundamental Training Formula and the other training formulas?"

The old man nodded. "Well there are differences. Training formulas are graded into four types. Ordinary grade, Medium Grade, High grade and Exceptional grade. Most card families have a medium grade training formula, while the fundamental formula is an ordinary grade formula.

The grade of the formula often indicates the speed at which you can absorb source energy. Training Formulas are just for the purpose of training a seed and forming a base card."

Alex understood. "Old man, do you have an extraordinary grade training formula?"

Old Ren snorted. "Kid, your luck is bad. You are destined to use the Fundamental Training Formula."

Alex nodded. "If I have no choice, then I must do my best with what I get."

The old man was surprised at Alex's comment. "Your parents have trained you well. The Fundamental Training Formula may be slow, but it absorbs the source energy attributes with equal intensity. Faster training formulas bias in favor of a specific attribute in return for speed. This is useful over bloodlines since the body's attribute filter is usually passed down genetically.

However, if your body has one attribute and you randomly use a faster training formula designed for another attribute, you can guess what will happen. Outside of Card families, it is usually difficult to know the attribute until the base card has been formed."

Alex finally understood. "In that case I have no qualms about using the Fundamental Training Formula."

Time continued to pass by. Alex was gradually increasing exercise in the gravity chamber. In the next month, Alex gradually increased the gravity to 4.9G. Alex was almost at the point of completely control the statue, however, he couldn't make the final transition. Alex also knew that 4.9 G was his current limit and he wasn't willing to risk it any further for he felt like even a little bit more intense gravity could lead to a collapse of his body.

Alex was at a bottleneck and din't know how to get past it, so he went to the old man for advice.

"You reached a bottleneck? How much gravitational force are you using.? He asked.

"4.9 G" Alex answered.

"What? 4.9 ?" The Old man was stunned into disbelief. He hadn't been keeping tabs on the gravity meter and didn't expect this brat to be able to persist beyond 3 G.

"Yes, it doesn't feel like a bottleneck in my inner world, but rather my physique. I cannot take more than 4.9G and thus am unable to take the last step." Alex sighed.

Old man Ren contemplated. "Why don't you begin sensing the source then? Form your seed."

Alex shook his head. "I can feel I can go further. But I need to break the limit of the body somehow. Isn't there no way to break the limit of the body?"

Ren shook his head. "It isn't that there isn't a way, but that it is either too risky or too time consuming."

Alex looked at the old man with determination. This made the old man sigh. "This... let me make a phonecall first. You go rest."

At night, the old man called a private number he had with himself. After five minutes the call was picked up. "Ren, how is my son doing? Did something happen for you to call?" Kathy asked.

"This..." Ren explained the situation. "The solution to this... you know the risks better than me."

"He wants to break the physical limit before he generates a seed, let alone the base card? What happened to my innocent son, he wants to break through the sky?" Kathy sighed.

At that time another voice came through the phone. "I will send a low tier ancient martial art for him to practice. It is safer than the other solutions but he will have to tolerate a lot of pain. But, isn't the high school exam approaching? Doesn't he feel the hurry to absorb the source?"

Ren spoke with a more respectful tone. "He doesn't seem to care much about speed, he is obsessed with building the best foundation he can."

The voice on the other side laughed. "Good son! I will send the ancient technique tomorrow. You hand it to him, but don't tell him what it is. See if he has any talent in this area."

Next day after school, Ren handed a scroll to Alex. "You want to break the physical limit? This is the solution. But do you have the patience to try it?"

Alex took the scroll. When he read it, his face paled. "What is this? These movements seem impossible to accomplish one at a time and I have complete it in a rapid sequence?"

"Did you think breaking the physical bottleneck was a joke? If you are able to do it you can break the bottleneck." Ren mocked.

Alex sighed. "I will try it out."

He looked at the method and inwardly cried. The exercise steps seemed to really be impossible.

"I'll try this first."

Alex attempted the first move. He had to twist his hand in a weird angle and form a chain with another hand while he bent his body forward and his legs completely spread apart in a gymnasts position.

As he tried the position halfway, his body began creaking and he felt an unbearable pain that threatened to make him lose consciousness.

Chapter end