Limits

As I traveled through the forest, I thought about my sudden strength increase and the aura that was released from my body. 'The aura I released was not a simple aura of dominance, it was something else. It felt like this aura came from my bones, as if I always had it'. I tried replicating that aura but I found out that I couldn't. I could only release the aura of dominance.

While I was testing my aura out, I came up with another idea. 'I can integrate my aura into my skills!". Of course one aura couldn't be used for all skills. For example, the domineering aura could be used for skills that would pressure the enemy, such as fast attacks in close combat but it was completely useless for stealth skills. 'I need to find few auras that I could use to enhance my skills further. I have the domineering aura but besides close combat, I don't know where else I could use it' I thought. Nevertheless, I decided to try it out when I fought next time.

I searched the forest for prey but as usual, it was quite empty, maybe besides some rabbits and other small animals. 'There is nothing I could test my strength on, nor is there something I could test my aura on' I thought as I moved through the forest.

I searched and searched and finally! found a group of bears that numbered 8. The group consisted of normal bears only but I wanted to try my aura and strength on them anyway. I ran straight for the bears without concealing my movements. I had no weapons in my hands, no daggers, sticks or stones. As I ran towards the group of bears, they noticed me and roared "Roooar!". The bears were now pouncing towards me as well. When I was close to the bears, I released my aura. "Whoosh!" the whole area became quiet, the bears slowed down and stopped while trembling.

I thought 'So the aura can actually paralyse my opponents. Although those are just normal bears, they are unable to move' and attacked the bear that was at the front. I used my fists only to attack, I also didn't use everything I had in me. I wanted to test out how much damage I could do with just half my strength.

When my fist arrived and connected with the bear's head, it exploded into pieces with an audible cracking noises before "boom!". I was shocked myself 'About 50% of my strength is enough to destroy normal bear's head. Then what can 100% of my strength do' I thought. My thirst to find out became even greater but I had no opponent to test it out.

I looked at the other bears. I knew that before I killed the 1st bear, they feared me and couldn't move but now? They were trembling and the fear was replaced by pure dread. I took care of the rest of the bears and collected their meat. I didn't even move from that location and simply made fire to roast my food. While I ate, I thought about more ways my aura could be used. 'I have the aura of dominance but that is just one aura. I always copied the aura of common people and those auras do not possess any effects. I need to figure out how to create an aura of stealth and perhaps other auras that could have positive effects on my other skills' I thought.

When I was done with my food, I went back to my camp. 'I can't get complacent, I still need to train hard and perfect my arts. The new skill from the Art of Stealth needs to be perfected, then I can focus on something else'. More strength training had no real benefit to me. The bag I was carrying almost helped me in no way but I wanted to test something before I would simply give up on improving my strength.

Back at the camp, I started by practicing the 1st and 2nd modified diagrams. I wanted to test how long I would be able to last. I positioned my body to make the 1st modified diagram pose and started counting. 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes and I was still fine. When I hit the 20 minutes mark, I started to feel some strain but I could still carry on, so I continued. 21 minutes, 22 minutes, 26 minutes, at which point I started to feel the effects and was trying to hold on for a bit more. 27 minutes, 28 minutes…. and before the 29 minutes mark, I had to stop.

I fell down onto my ass and said out loud "Almost 30 minutes, this is more than I've ever dreamed of. The diagram still has some effect therefore I will still practice the 1st and 2nd diagrams. At least until I can reach 30 minutes with the 1st diagram and at least 20 minutes with the 2nd diagram". I rested properly before trying the 2nd diagram pose.

Before I begun, I thought 'If I could last almost 30 minutes under the 1st diagram pose then how long will I last in the 2nd diagram pose?'. My curiosity was eating me alive so I assumed the 2nd diagram pose and started counting. 1 minute, 2 minutes, 4 minutes, 7 minutes and I could already feel discomfort but I could still continue without any issues. 9 minutes, 10 minutes, 11 minutes and I could feel that I would not be able to last a lot longer anymore. 12 minutes, 13 minutes and 14 minutes. Short while later, I gave up and the final time was a bit less than 14,5 minutes.

I thought 'Still a long way to go, if I want to reach 20 minutes mark. When I get to that point, I think it would be safe for me to practice the 3rd modified diagram'. I stayed a bit in the pose from the 3rd modified diagram and it was seriously straining. Only a few seconds was enough for me to confirm that. That was of course before increase in my strength. Now, I would be able to last about 2 minutes in that pose. I still decided to train the other two diagrams to perfection or at least what I considered perfection. I wanted to squize out as much as I could from those two modified diagrams.

I had to rest again and let my muscles regenerate. I also found that I was hungry again. Keeping the poses for such a long time, used much more of my energy. Although I wasn't very hungry or starving, I wanted to eat something nevertheless. The 8 bears I hunted previously would be enough for me for about 2 days, maybe less if my consumption increased.

I noticed that the more strength I use the greater my appetite seems to be. I ate some meat while resting and prepared for my next training. Learning how to calculate the nature and find the best route.