Limits

Back in the cave, I sat down on my bed and started to read the Corporeal Structure again. I continued to the 2nd chapter of the book that described functions as well as purposes of human skin. Engrossed like this in my book, I again forgot about the time. I heard "You should rest, you know? It's quite late already". I woke up from my reading and looked at Laly that sat on the chair. I said "Right, when I start reading something interesting, I forget what time it is. I will continue tomorrow I guess. Goodnight".

Laly responded with "Goodnight" as well and I laid down to get some sleep. The dream of the Dark Traveller was displayed in front of my eyes again. 'Let's see what you got there' I thought and listened attentively. The dream lasted for 20 cycles and I woke up in the morning.

Laly was sitting next to me in some kind of sleep mode. I didn't disturb her this time either and simply went outside to start my day. When I went outside the cave, I noticed large amounts of snow everywhere. I thought 'This should provide some extra difficulty for my Natural Path skill. I need to learn how not to leave prints in the snow. I don't know if this is possible but I wouldn't be me, if I didn't try!'.

With the 3rd modified diagram practice and breakfast taken care of, I went to the location that I used in order to train my Natural Path skill and started running. I tried to be as light footed as I could be but I still left prints. 'This is not going to work, maybe speed will allow me to pass this area without leaving prints?' I thought and decided to try it out.

I leaned forwards a bit and released all the strength from my legs. "Booom!" the snow got pushed in all directions as I sped through the route. I quickly noticed that the disturbance created from such force was even more apparent than my foot prints. 'This is also not the way to go' I thought. Then I remembered something 'Wait! The exercise that the Dark Traveller did in my dream. The one to find the glass like tiles and traverse the path. Later on in that exercise, the tiles would appear and disappear. I had very little time to stay on one tile and had to choose another one fast. What if I could implement these quick and erratic movements from Illusionary Path into my Natural Path skill. I can't traverse the path in my dreams yet but it seems that the idea of combining them both is just too perfect!'.

I decided to give it a try. I was after quick changes and erratic movements that would allow me to step on the snow but at the same time, leave no prints. I started the practice right away and imagined myself traversing the Illusionary Path in my dreams.

After a while of trying, I had no improvements whatsoever. I did that for about 40 minutes but still left the same size footprints in the snow. 'I know this is a correct idea, I'm just lacking in skills that's all. The more I do it, the better. I should practice like this from now on' I thought. My practice went like this until afternoon when I had my lunch. After the break, I started my archery practice. I didn't wait for Laly because she already said that I have to master that technique first. Therefore, there was no point for her to stand next to me and instruct me as I already knew what to do.

I practiced my long distance shooting for the rest of the day and then had my dinner. When I returned to the cave, I found that Laly was not inside my room. That change was welcoming and I simply laid on my bed to read a book. After a few hours of reading, I stopped and noticed that Laly was still not in her usual place. That is, the chair that stood in front of my bed. I decided to investigate and got up.

I went outside my room and tried to go into the room on the left. It was closed. I called out "Are you there?" but heard no response. I tried again "Are you ok? Do you need help?" but there was no response either. I decided to break down the doors and go inside. As I was about to kick the doors open, I heard a voice next to me "What are you trying to pull here?". I stopped myself and looked to my right. Laly was there, standing with an unhappy expression, I should add.

I said "You didn't respond when I called you and you weren't in the usual place when I was about to go to sleep. So I thought you were inside there and something might've happened to you". She calmed down a bit and said "You don't have to worry about me. Just go to sleep and don't try to break my doors again!". I shrugged my shoulders and left. 'Whatever is in that room, must mean a lot to her but it's not like I wanted to enter there just to see what's inside. She is right, I will not worry about her anymore. She has her own life and I have my own. We are helping each other because we are both benefiting from that' I thought.

I laid down in my bed and closed my eyes. I decided to stop being nice and chatty. 'She gets to use my aura and I get to learn about her skills. I will just treat it as pure transaction'. I fell asleep and woke up in the dream where the Dark Traveller speaks to me in Ancient Language.

In the morning of the next day, I woke up and didn't care if Laly was asleep or whatever she was doing. I simply walked out and started my day. After the usual things in the morning, I started to practice my new and improved Natural Path skill. I had no progress still but there was a saying "A village was not built in one day". I was not discouraged, knew how difficult it will be before I started.

I ate my lunch in the early afternoon, then started my archery practice. I was getting very close to the 100% accuracy. I was only off by 20% at this stage. 'A bit more training and I should be able to hit 100% accuracy in about 2 weeks time. I'm getting better each day' I thought to myself.

With my archery practice done in the evening, I retired for the night and read the Corporeal Structure book. I was already at the 3rd chapter "Muscles". In that chapter, the book described something I felt familiar with. There wasn't much information on it but the book stated that there was a legend in the past. According to that legend, a certain type of muscles existed that were more condensed and contained greater burst power compared to the normal muscles.

This would mean that, if someone replaced their normal muscles with those specific ones but not change the volume, they could contain double if not triple the amount of strength and burst power. 'It's stated as legend but what if it was true? I mean, I'm this strong yet my muscles are pretty much the same. They look more defined and a bit bigger but I don't look any different from a typical villager, besides the fact I've very skinny. What if I have those muscles and therefore I'm able to reach such strength. This would make sense as well' I thought.

'But then, if I have these muscles then other people should have them as well. I can't be the only one to have them, right? Nick said that there were many people much stronger than him. This would mean they also have such muscles' I thought to myself. There was nothing else about that type of muscles but instead, I found some more general information regarding muscles. Some, I already knew and some, I learned from that book. 'In overall, this book is very useful, I already learned a lot and that is only the 3rd chapter. I still have loads to read' I thought and continued my reading until it was time for me to go to sleep.