It's something good?

Slowly coming to Ace opened his eyes and seeing the same sky he was grilling and eating fish under instead of the expected pearly gates he wondered if the afterlife was based on where one died.

As his mind cleared however he realized he surprisingly wasn't dead. With how out of control his body had been he thought he would explode or that his heart would fail. Nothing of the sort had happened and instead he felt pretty healthy, if he ignored the soreness in his veins and throughout his body. It was a good ache however and it was almost the same feeling as he got sometimes after a satisfying workout.

Standing up and stretching to see if there was anything wrong with his body he noticed a dark stain on the otherwise yellow sand. It should have been the blood he vaguely remembered spitting out, but instead of red, the stain was dark, almost black and it smelled a lot worse than blood from his body should. Poking at it with a stick it was more gooey and firmer than any bodily fluid should be so soon after leaving the body.

Although he had no idea for how long he was out cold or affected by the fish meat, since there were still glowing embers in the fire pit it couldn't have been long. Before doing anything else, he decided since he didn't die he could continue eating the fish so he prepared to grill the rest by refueling the fire.

Although continuing to eat food, that could make him lose consciousness, just because it's tasty wasn't exactly sustainable, especially if it had undesirable side effects. Even if he felt like everything was fine with himself, Ace wanted to be sure.

"Dishwasher, am i okay?" He asked his chip.

[Under the assumption that host's question pertains to host's body, a conclusion has been reached]

[Host's body is in a healthy condition]

"..." Ace was stunted hearing the chip's answer. Although he asked a vague question he didn't really expect such a short and empty answer.

"Dishwasher, what happened to me after I ate the unidentified fish-like creature and will there be any permanent consequences of prolonged consumption of said creature?" Rephrasing and clarifying his question Ace hoped for a better answer this time.

[Host's consumption of the unidentified creature lead to excessive intake of a variation of the unknown energy]

[Variant energy entered host's bloodstream, stimulating the cardiovascular system]

[Further analysis required for more details]

[Variant energy has been determined to increase the efficacy of cardiovascular system]

[Improvements are as follows;

[Increased oxygen circulation]

[Strengthened heart muscles]

[Increased durability of affected body parts]

[The unknown energy has begun circulating inside host's body]

'It seems eating things with energy gives me their energy' Ace thought as he listened to the first response. And as he listened to the rest he got more and more excited. Although he didn't know what the energy being a variant meant what he did know was that it was incredibly beneficent.

Training could strengthen the heart and blood circulation, improving the blood's innate oxygen capacity and the resilience of the veins however were next to impossible to achieve naturally. All of that thanks to a variation of the unknown energy currently flowing around in his body.

If even a relatively small fish could help him reach past the physical limits of a human, what about the deer he had seen earlier? Ace definitely couldn't take that one down though so hunting the deer remained a distant dream.

He hadn't experienced even a fraction of what the planet had to offer, but what he had seen was enough to shatter his common sense.

With anticipation for the future Ace decided the best way to prepare himself was to eat a lot. Beginning with the remaining fish now being roasted over the fire.

Having already eaten a lot, Ace shouldn't feel that much hunger but remembering the taste and the thought of it improving his physical condition made him want to eat more. As he consumed the last piece he could feel the same sensation of his blood rushing through his body byt this time he was prepared and kept it under control until it gradually calmed down.

Ace could clearly feel his blood improving this time since he wasn't as panicked and the feeling of getting stronger just by eating was a complex one, especially when he thought back to all the intense training sessions from hell he had endured.

Although most of those training sessions were related to a set of exercises that complemented the most difficult martial art he had ever learned. The martial art and it's corresponding set of exercises were developed in a secret lab by an army of researchers from different disciplines. Biologists, doctors, mechanics, fitness specialists. Anyone that could possibly contribute were gathered to develop a martial art that was designed to be unbeatable, even in a world of advanced weaponry such as drones, mechs, exo-skeletons and whatever else that popped up.

Although the goal with the project was a supreme martial art, other discoveries were made during the projects duration. A bunch of the breathing techniques he had learned, among other things. Since a lot of good things came from it continually the research continued even if things looked bleak.

The end result was an incredibly difficult martial art that required extreme capabilities. Ace was one of the few that reached the basic requirements to begin training it and one of the three that actually learned it to a decent level.

What amazed Ace the most aside from the usefulness and versatility of the martial art itself was the corresponding training. It was designed to push the body to it's limit. No matter how strong Ace got he would never outgrow the exercises since they used his own strength against him.

By placing the body in seemingly nonsensical positions and tensing his muscles Ace always felt like he was using all of his muscles to their absolute limit. Using the same weight and motion in ordinary strength training would stop working after a while, and he would get used to the motions, making the training easier. Ace never felt like that training would ever get lighter, if anything, since it never got better it always felt like it got tougher each time.

There were non-physical aspects to the training as well but now that he had consumed a special fish that enhanced his constitution Ace decided to try performing the exercises. Considering it had been a while since he last performed them, with the journey through space and all, he didn't expect any extraordinary results.