Strength

Parkour is a great way to exercise every muscle in one's body all at once. Something I learned even before I died, but never wanted to really try until after death. Now here I was sprinting full tilt through the forest, jumping over roots and stumps, swinging off branches to change direction and running up trees and doing flips to stop myself. I constantly shifted my weight between my feet while running, trying to maintain my balance and centre of gravity, always moving on my toes and the balls of my feet. To be honest I fell about a dozen times while doing all this. When ever I would stop I would take a moment to gather more nuts and acorns, meditate on my mistakes and squeeze rocks to strengthen my grip.

It might seem like a simple thing, but if one grips something in their hands when ever one has free time you have no idea how strong your hands can get. I've personally witnessed a man bend steel with nothing but his bare hands. He once told a reporter that he spent every second where his hands would normally be idle, gripping what ever he could and by the time he was 28, he was in the Guinness book of world records for the worlds strongest grip strength. And that was on earth. The key is to use one's free time to grip anything and everything. And starting now won't be detrimental in anyway.

Once the sun started to go down, marking the halfway point of the day, as it dipped past the redline and out of view. I stopped running around so much and climbed a tree to get some rest, my walking stick and food bundle wrapped in my arms. I looked up at the stars and smiled.

After sleeping for far longer than necessary, it was quite a nice feeling after so long, I awoke the next morning with even greater muscle aches than before. I relished the feeling of being in a body once again before completing Yogi master Pathiks sacred poses.

Last night gave me time to think, about something I hadn't thought of since that first decade after I left the earth. My own martial art. It was something I had thought of dozens of times when I was alive, and after death the thing I watched more than any other, even more than manga and movies, was martial arts. I dreamed of the day I'd be able to memorize the moments every martial art there was.

Allas my memory isn't that amazing. Though i was able to memorize a fair deal, especially after spending several centuries completely focused on nothing but pondering the different styles.

It was based off Bruce Lee's personal martial art known as Jeet Kun-Do or the way of the intercepting fist. A form that revolved around reacting rather than acting. I prefer to use my legs more than just my hands so I added more Tae Kwon-Do, Muay Thai and Savate. Along with grappling techniques from wrestling, Judo and Jui Jistu. With some added tap dancing and hip hop thrown in to help maintain a rhythm and keep my feet from being predictable.

I also studied the use of weapons and did my best to attempt to incorporate all forms of weaponry into my own personal fighting style. The thought was simple, if I could master every weapon and style there was, then I would always know the perfect response to each attack. I simulated countless sparring matches in my head during that first decade in space.

Of course studying and practising are two completely different things. Though I had long since worked out the forms and memorized the styles, I would undoubtedly need to train until their ingrained into my very bones. It just so happens that the south blue had the perfect location. Karate Island, part of an archipelago known as the Martial Isles, the ultimate spot for honing one's martial arts.

But first I would need money and where better to get money than a city of criminals and thieves. I took a deep breath. No need to rush things, take it slow. I only have this one life. Who knows what will happen should I die again. Just because I'm anxious to get strong and experience the type of combat I've only watched and read about, doesn't mean I should just jump head first into danger. Even though that worked out fairly well last time.

Somewhere in a distant universe while having tea with other gods a certain primordial sneezed.

Choosing a random tree as my training dummy, I began to strike out and attempt to put my knowledge into practice. As I thought it was much harder than I expected, my body was still stiff and slow compared to my mind, I couldn't react in time with my thoughts. My muscles aren't flexible enough nor are they strong enough to make full use of the techniques I created. So I had to fix that. Not to mention the fact that my skin wasn't able to hold up under the barrage against the trees dense bark.

I spent the next week working my muscles the best I could, striking the trees at every angle and trying to work out the kinks in my form. I was stretching 3-5 times a day, running till my lungs felt like they'd burst and then stopping to meditate and perform the great Gurus nutrient absorbing technique. I did the one punch man challenge for the heck of it and added 100 pull ups, 100 sit ups and 100 jumping jacks. I repeated this cycle till my body felt like jelly and passed out only to start again the next day. With a strong soul I only needed 2-3 hours of sleep a night before I continued the cycle.

My body was in near constant agony, never given a proper moments rest. And I loved every second of it, this is was it is to be alive (again). That wasn't the only side effect of this past week, I had basically picked this part of the forest clean of nuts and acorns and the squirrels where not looking pleased with me running around and constantly moving. They basically watched me 24/7, like a hawk watching its prey.

If I ever left my nuts unattended they would instantly rob me blind. Cunning little devils.

I decided to rest for the day as overworking one's muscles is not good for the body, even if my soul is replenishing it naturally, I should always take care not to overwork it. And I think if I kept foraging, the squirrels would stage a revolt and would all come at me at once. So after a good nights sleep and a day of relaxing meditation I continued my journey towards Grassroots Town, home of the most criminals In all of Janico Island. Though only a days walk from where my vessel parished, I had spent time wandering and training till I felt ready to emerge. This was the place where I hoped to find myself some money and maybe a boat or ship that's willing to take me to Karate Island. I can't wait to see what this place has in store.