Success! Kinda...

Sitting in front of the dinosaur wannabe, Ace watched it's futile struggles with a slight smile on his face.

When the lizard fell over and Ace confirmed it couldn't flip itself back an exhilarating feeling swept through his body. It was a feeling he hadn't experienced in what felt like forever. It was a feeling that came from winning, from triumphing, from beating someone else by simply being better.

The only times he remembered feeling it this clearly was when he was still living in the slums, before he even got his name. When everyday was a struggle to live. Always having to be smarter, faster and stronger than everyone else for every single piece of whatever could push back the ever lingering pains of hunger and starvation.

The fights that developed when something especially tasty was found were some of the most exciting events Ace experienced during those times. The chaos. The uncertainty. Not knowing what's going to happen or when someone is going to try and bash your head in with a steel pipe.

Just thinking about those memories he thought he had forgotten gave Ace goosebumps.

Of course all of that changed after he got picked up and the slums got cleared out. The scientific and calculative methods that became part of everything took the thrill out of fighting. Instead of relying on himself and his instinct Ace could just read a report on the enemy, follow the calculated steps and unless something unexpected happened he was set to win. Instead of fighting it was more like following a set of movements in tandem with a co-actor. Not to mention that with the rapid development of society two of the main goals, eradicating poverty and hunger, were worked on to a significant degree. Compared to the past it definitely succeeded, but that doesn't mean much. Still, it took away the possibility of going back.

Anyhow, Ace's fight with the horned lizard reminded him of those times. He didn't know anything about what the lizard could actually do, how smart it was, it's physical capabilities, nothing. With a variable that large the only thing he could trust in was himself.

Although the fight was short, it was enough for him to know that if it was the previous Ace, from before he came to this planet, he would have been trashed and killed almost instantly. The most definitive evidence of that was the pain he felt in his joints and bones, especially his right arm that he even suspected was fractured, if not actually broken.

The reason why was pretty obvious when he thought about it. the training methods had strengthened his muscles at a rapid pace with the help of the mysterious energy permeating the atmosphere and the variant energy in the fish had helped improve his blood vessels and skin. There was nothing to develop his skeleton so it had lagged behind his other body parts in strength. When Ace then used to full power of his muscles his bones couldn't handle it and began taking the beating of a lifetime.

Thankfully he noticed it early on. Otherwise if only his muscles grew stronger and stronger it would eventually reach a point where the rest of his body wouldn't be able to handle it and a light jog might rattle his brain to the point of death.

This realization scared Ace a little bit but also gave him insight in what he had to do to properly grow stronger. Strong enough to fight the native creatures without relying on cheap tricks, at the very least.

Ace hadn't even properly beaten the lizard in front of him, merely flipped it over. He couldn't even harm it with his current strength and tools.

His backup plan had originally been to tilt the lizard a bit then drop it down onto the spear and let it pierce itself but as soon as he touched the scales and hide of the lizard Ace realized he would lose his spear shortly before getting eaten like a snack.

With no other options the only thing Ace could do was put the lizard on it's back and let it starve to death so he can freely go to town on the corpse. Not to mention it would probably lose the effects of the mysterious energy if it dies, like the fish did, hopefully growing weak enough for Ace to cut it open and feast.

Since he currently couldn't do anything to his prey, and neither could the lizard to anything to resolve it's situation, Ace decided to head back to his campsite. Walking carefully to not aggravate his injuries he noticed how far away he had run in that short time. He estimated he had broken a few records, not even counting he had done it on sand.

With curiosity in his voice he asked the chip,

"Dishwasher, how fast did i run just now?"

[Recorded statistics show a top speed of 42.3 km/h]

The answer left Ace with a light shining in his eyes.

Running barefoot on a sandy beach had put him at a speed surpassing the previous world record.

With shoes and on a proper track, wouldn't he completely sweep any potential competitors down the drain?

Ace would hav definitely walked the last bit with a jump in his steps if it weren't for every bone in his body hurting each time he moved.

Arriving in front of his campfire Ace fed it a few pieces of bark to keep it going before sitting down to massage his body and stimulate his blood flow. He combined the massage, a few skewers of fish drizzled with tree sap and a breathing technique to stimulate metabolism and his body's natural processes to speed up his healing even more than the natural energy did on it's own.

Entering a trance Ace subconsciously ate fish as needed while completely focusing on his recuperation, shutting everything else out. The occasional lizard growl disappeared, the sound of waves crashing on the beach faded out and the sound of wind brushing through the forest no longer reached him. As the final crackle of the fire spluttered out all Ace could hear was the rushing of his blood through his veins and the beating of his heart. He could feel air entering his nose before traveling down to his lungs and finally into his bloodstream. Along with the oxygen he also felt something intangible filling his body, one part from his lungs and another from his stomach, slightly different but both the same.

Focusing on how these energies healed and reinforced any damage to his body Ace lost track of time as any coherent thought left his mind and he only focused on experiencing whatever was happening to his body.