With those words, Sensei rose, bowed briefly to the empty space before him, and then, with his characteristic silent grace, simply walked out of the hall, leaving the trainees, including a famished and Chi-depleted John, to face the implications of their new knowledge and the harsh realities of their ongoing training.
The energy in the hall was undeniably low, a palpable shift after Sensei's departure. Even John, despite his rigorous mental control, was taken aback by the profound calm and serenity Sensei exuded. He was no maniacal old man, no bloodthirsty, ruthless killer. He might still be that person in other contexts, but the Sensei who had spent this week with them was not.
In a way, John found himself happy about this. Sensei's nuanced behavior made his new reality seem more real, less like something out of a predetermined story. Sensei wasn't just adhering to a role assigned by some unseen writers; he was a living being, making choices, navigating situations in different ways.
While this realization brought a strange sense of satisfaction to John, it also made his ultimate goal even more concrete: survival and leaving this Earth. He needed to find some other place to spend the rest of his new life, a place where the patterns were simpler, where the human and aliens equation wasn't quite so lethal.
The next two weeks passed in a blur of intense focus for John. That very night, after Sensei's final class, he put his new theory to the test. He needed to know if he could leverage his "serene state" to influence his Chi more effectively.
He immediately dropped into the state, and the difference was astonishing. The internal world of his Chi felt instantly more pliable, more responsive. But before delving deeper, he needed to address his critical concern: could he consciously decide which energy his body would use as fuel?
To John's surprise, it was remarkably easy. It required little more than a flex of will. He began to feel his body cease drawing on his Chi reserves, shifting instead to using his physical energy and the food he'd consumed as fuel. The relief was immediate and profound.
As for using his serene state to move his Chi and heal, the experience was akin to an adult guiding a child. With only a minuscule amount of mental energy, he found himself able to direct his Chi with clear certainty, focusing it precisely on wounded areas. He could even break down the Chi into fine threads, weaving it with intricate precision for significantly more effective healing.
Before, when he attempted to heal, John would only move Chi vaguely around the area of pain, then let the energy do its own thing, hoping it worked. But in this new "serene state," he could feel precisely what his body needed and what the Chi needed to accomplish. He could effectively guide the energy, almost sculpting it to mend and repair with exquisite precision.
Sadly, he could only maintain this state for what he estimated to be about five minutes. Then, he was abruptly pushed out, welcomed by the familiar, gnawing hunger that scraped at his stomach. But this time, he was prepared.
After eating, John realized that in just five minutes, he had achieved healing that previously took him hours of arduous, unfocused effort. This efficiency sparked another new goal. He didn't know when they would leave this island, but if they did, he needed to find new ways to discover new methods of energy replenishment for his body, allowing him to sustain both the serene and heightened states for far longer durations.
It took John three days to get back to full health, a process accompanied by an almost unhealthy amount of eating. During this period, other trainees finally began to approach John for help, their initial fear warring with their desperation for an edge. John, however, calmly declined, informing them he would offer no assistance until after the month's assessment. His full focus was now on himself.
He'd discovered he could leverage his serene state for two distinct purposes. One was for healing, which efficiently drained his physical energy. The other, which he'd only fully realized on this third day now that healing wasn't an urgent concern, was for enhancing his martial arts, a process that utilized his precious Chi as fuel.
John was already proficient in his chosen martial arts. His immediate challenge was now learning to fight with greater caution and precision, no longer relying on the blind hope of quick recovery offered by the League's green paste. He had new tools, and with them, new responsibilities to his own survival.
The remaining week and a half before the assessment became a crucible for John. His healing complete, his focus shifted entirely to the intricate integration of his "serene state" with his martial arts. He sought out secluded training yards, often late at night or in the pre-dawn hours, when the compound was at its quietest and he could push his limits without immediate observation.
Initially, the process was arduous. Moving through the precise forms of his chosen art while consciously maintaining the serene state felt like trying to perform complex surgery with a blindfold on. His movements were stiff, his balance occasionally faltered, and the flow of his forms was choppy, utterly lacking the fluid grace he aimed for.
The constant, subtle drain on his physical energy, a new sensation he had to learn to manage, forced him into frequent, short breaks, where he would meticulously consume his prepared rations or meditate. Each five-minute burst of training in the serene state cost him dearly in physical stamina, but he last longer when he changes to Chi with a difference of extra five more minutes.
John, however, was a relentless student of patterns. He would meticulously review each session, replaying every clumsy transition, every wasted motion in his mind. He began to perceive his own body not just as a collection of muscles and bones, but as an intricate system of energy flows, just as Sensei described.
In the serene state, he could acutely feel the precise tension in each muscle, the subtle shifts in his weight, and the exact expenditure of energy with every punch and kick. This newfound internal awareness allowed him to dissect his old habits, identifying precisely why he tended to absorb hits or rely on raw power rather than technique.
When he picked up on this profound change, he immediately stopped using the Serene state during his training. It was still meant to be a secret. His mentor would undoubtedly notice something drastically different, something unnatural, if he fought with such altered perception and control.
So then began another arduous process: picking up the subtle notions he'd only clearly perceived while in the serene state, but now without its enhancement. It was like trying to chase after a shadow of something he knew was undeniably there but could no longer grasp directly. Each movement felt heavier, less precise, and the internal clarity he'd just experienced vanished, leaving him frustrated yet determined.
Nonetheless, John persisted. The challenge of translating the hyper-aware clarity of his serene state into his ordinary perception was immense, but it was not impossible. He just needed to be more acutely in tune with himself and his actions. Slowly, painstakingly, it began to pay off. He drilled defensive maneuvers relentlessly, focusing on the specific footwork of The Broken Step to disrupt imaginary opponents, perfecting parries, dodges, and deflections.
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