Training roh was starting to get monotonous. I had been training in it for another hour or so with the only progress being that now I could give myself pins and needles faster than ever before.
After standing up and stretching, I walked over and found the phone that Axmon mentioned. However when I picked it up I realised why he called it a cellular device instead of a phone.
It was barely able to be used as a phone, there were ways to contact others but along with that and the ability to research various things I found that there wasn't much else. No method of entertainment at all.
'And here I was hoping I would actually be able to try one of these for once.'
Looking at the time on the phone I saw it was about eight thirty in the morning. I thought of going to training hall B but as I looked at my phone I noticed there being an application for ordering food.
Looking through the first thing I noticed is that there wasn't anything particularly good compared to nothing but oats and potatoes which I used to get, I found myself pleasantly surprised by what was there.
I picked what it said was pasta mixed with sauce and meat and then a popup notified me that I had used one extra food token out of three for this week and that I should go to the cafeteria in two minutes.
'Extra food huh, that means at some point there will be actual times where we are called to get food. That food will probably be worse than this menu, it's a shame. I would have loved to have some good food'.
Looking at the menu again I noticed a section for sweets. Clicking on the section and viewing what was there I saw many tasty looking treats and pastries. Looking down at their description however revealed all of their costs were 3 tokens each.
'Now that's just evil.'
I stretched slightly and then walked over to the door while putting my new phone in my pocket.
Walking out of my room and towards the cafeteria which was right next to training hall A and so by extension was very close to me. On the way I tried to feel my roh but it seemed like every step drowned out my sense for it. I wasn't even able to begin to get that sensation of roh
Arriving at the cafeteria I opened the door and saw a few others but no one I recognised. I walked over to the pickup spot, a camera scanned my face and then presented me with a small plate of whatever it was that I ordered.
'Was it called paste? No no, that's something different.'
I didn't really care what it was called and so I just picked it up and walked over to sit on a seat by myself.
Tasting it was an interesting experience, it was soft but also firm in a way that was very strange. Its string-like shape was combined with the balls of meat mixed throughout.
I finished the entire thing faster than I thought possible.
'That was better than I expected.'
Not wasting any more time I put my tray in the collection section and started walking over to my room. However when I passed training hall A, I suddenly had the thought to go in and train my muscles a bit. I had done a lot of hard labour in the past, yes but I couldn't exactly call myself strong, at best I had good stamina.
Walking over to a treadmill, on its side was a waistband, which was used to account for the low amount of artificial gravity. After walking onto the treadmill and attaching the waistband I pressed the big start button on the attached screen.
It wasn't long before my lungs felt like they dropped to the bottom of my chest and I felt nauseous. It was weird, my legs weren't even close to being to their limit but in this moment I could barely take each step. Sweat slowly built up but with the air vent blowing air directly into my face the near suffocating heat was manageable.
What eventually got me to stop was how it felt like someone had waxed my insides and then forced me to drink hand sanitiser with the horrible and raw stinging pain that I felt all the way through my entire body now. I stopped the machine and looked to see I had run a barely over four kilometres.
'I've always been told running was a nice passtime, what fucking liars. This is nothing but hell.'
The doors to the training hall opened and I saw who I presumed was '3' to walk in. She looked at me for a split second and then walked over to the big suspended cushion bags which she had begun punching
I came to a realisation. 'So that's a punching bag. Never seen one before'
I watched her technique with fascination. She was very obviously stronger than me, but as she started going faster and harder I realised just how much stronger she truly was. Each strike she dealt would have easily broken a few bones of mine and after a few more moments her strength grew so strong I thought I was dreaming. The punching bag was flying back and forth at high speeds and by the time she stopped. She was left sweating, then she simply picked up her water bottle and drank the entire thing before walking out of the training hall.
As she left she noticed me staring, she looked back at me with an expression as if saying. 'What the hell are you looking at me like that for?' then simply walked off.
'What the hell did I just witness?'
I walked over to the punching bag and tried hitting it too. My hand crumpled instantly and my hand bent forwards causing me to hit the bag with the back of my wrist. The bag barely moved and I was left with a hurt wrist, it felt like trying to push over a fat guy with one hand with how heavy the thing is.
'Is she a monster or am i just weak? And what kind of training do I have to do to get to that level?'
This time when punching the bag I decided to try to copy the way she punched, in my mind there was still the clear image of what it looked like. Wide stance, push off of back foot, straight arm. Imagining in my mind exactly how she punched I moved in what I hoped was the exact same way.
I definitely punched harder, but at the same time I found myself falling to the floor.
'Maybe that's what I need, I need tricks and knowledge. A little skill went a long way in making my punch stronger.'
For a time I just looked up at the punching bag swinging back and fourth. I admired just how much a little bit of technique could make you stronger.
'If that's what I can do by just copying her, what is actually possible? One thing is for sure, I need to learn a lot more'
My thoughts went back to Axmon's lecture, where he told us we all had a wealth of knowledge in our phones. I had quickly dismissed it before but I realised now that it might be the most valuable thing in this entire ring which is designed entirely for training the next generation of divers.
I went back to my room, all while my mind raced with a hundred questions. My sudden drive for knowledge was foreign to me but at the same time felt oddly satisfying and… almost familiar.
'artificial gravity... What is authentic gravity? I have heard many many times about earth, but I knew we weren't on it. Why weren't we on it? If we weren't on it then where were we?'
I had always taken these things as fact, never questioned them, mainly because that was just how things were and partly because of what they did to us if we pushed beyond what they allowed us to know.
'It always comes back to knowledge, they give us just enough knowledge to do our tasks and not ever any more.'
My sense of danger for thinking of these things kicked in, but it only caused me to remember a phrase.
'curiosity killed the cat I suppose.' In the back of my mind a question arose 'What the hell is a cat?'
I almost yanked my door open, my brain was frantically moving from thought to thought faster before they could fully form. I knew I didn't need to know more than required of me but that foreign yet familiar compulsion pushed me forwards.
To learn you first have to realise what you don't know. That exact thought is what continued my endless realisations of what I never questioned in my life
Only at this moment did I remember to close the door. I took my phone out of my pocket and opened the information page.
'I need to know more, much more.'