Nine seconds passed by Xinh's lifeless body since his consciousness faded. At the end of the time, his heart started beating slowly again. It was weak at first. The pulse was nearly nonexistent. The strength of the pulse was steadily increasing and reached its steady peak at nine minutes. The heart was renewed and rigorous with vitality. Consciousness was moderately rising and it slowly returned to Xinh's body. Within the span of nine hours, Xinh returned to the world of the living. Xinh opened his eyes and in return received the morning sunlight.
I feel alive. I understand now. I remember now. What a crazy feeling. My past the accumulation of everything right before my 'death' feels like I can see all of it, understand all of it, feel all of it. Its condensed to a single point. The past is really the present?
[I'm glad you were born ZiN]
Zin?
[No you are ZiN]
[This is your true name, it would be a disservice to call you the same Xinh after the death of 'Xinh', you're now ZiN. It is a symbol yet also a name. It is fitting because it captures your current self]
[Names have power, it can be a strength and weakness]
I know I look the same outside but internally I feel that I'm ZiN now.
[You can still use your old name for external appearances]
[But you should go look in the mirror]
Xinh went to the bathroom and stared at himself in the mirror. He was pleasantly surprised. He lost a decent amount of fat in the stomach and face. The pores of his skin were clearer. Xinh realized it was the result of all the walking, and running he did over the days. Also he stuck to one meal a day for about a week. The socializing he did also helped.
[You should probably eat soon, you're hungrier than you know]
'By the way, I now understand what you mean when you said, "Your world will end in 9 days." I definitely died and now I'm in a new world. The perspective change is nice, I feel like I was a zombie walking the Earth when I was the old 'Xinh'.'
[I'm sorry, but the current world has started ending since the old you died]
[There are about 9990 days left until the actual world changes just as you have changed from Xinh to ZiN]
'Seems like a lot of time, a bit more than 27 years. But I know enough now than to underestimate the passage of time. I can already start to feel what you mean by the change, the death of the current world and the birth of the new world. Its probably something completely outside my imagination. I definitely need a plan.'
[You can do nothing and still be fine. But you can do everything and it still won't be enough. That's the world that will come.]
'Take nothing for granted. Got it. I want to maximize my potential to cover all the possibilities.'
[Alright I will guide you fully, I will meet your intent]
[The heart, mind, and body are intimately connected]
[Your heart is in a good spot, but lets work on the mind and body]
[Working on all three is key and keeping them in balance is crucial]
[You're body is currently the weakest of the three]
[So first, lets focus the next 90 days on building the basic foundation of the body]
Xinh started his physical training like a brisk walk. He truly started 9 days ago. Now it was time to run. Xinh did the basic body weight exercises from push ups and dips to rows and pull ups. Squats and lunges for the legs. Crunches, planks, and leg raises for the abs. Running for stamina and doing hill sprints for speed. He even bought a new bike and biked everywhere for groceries and errands.
Xinh was closely monitoring the quality and types of food he was consuming too. When he was resting or relaxing he was either meditating or stretching to increase his flexibility. Every moment had a purpose and it was meaningful. There wasn't even a moment to waste. Because he was making the most out of every moment.
[Good job, now lets increase the variations and intensity]
The next 90 days had Xinh adding weight slowly with the basic exercises while learning increasingly difficult variations and filling out niche parts of his body. Grip strength, neck strength, and even finger strength increased.
[Now lets work on mind-body connections]
Another 90 days and so forth. Xinh was build a steady and concrete foundation.
[Your physicality is at a solid level now, lets put the application of force into practice]
'Martial Arts'
[You should learn a variety of ways to apply force, different arts are best suited for different situations]
[Striking, Grappling, Throws, and Take-downs]
[Boxing, Muay Thai, and Karate should form a good basis for strikes]
[BJJ for grappling, Judo for throws, and Wrestling for take-downs]
[We will focus on the striking arts first because you need someone to spar for the latter]
Xinh practiced the basics and the general concepts of Boxing, Muay Thai and Karate while maintaining the physicality of his body.
A total year passed by since Xinh's journey began. He finally joined a gym for BJJ and started sparring with others. He incorporated Judo and Wrestling techniques into his BJJ.
Another half year passed by.
[Now its time to train your movement, body control, and bodily kinesthetics]
[Learn Tricking, Dancing, and Parkour]
'Dam alright, didn't expect this. Here goes nothing.'
And another year passed.
It was approaching the end of 999 days.
Xinh could now fight a bit. Well he didn't know how well but if he put his old self against the him now…
On the 1000th day, he knew intuitively he could fight at least 1,000 'Xinhs' from a thousand days ago and come out on top. If they came one by one, he'd could beat them easily. Even against a 1,000 at once, if it was out in the open he could run. The difference was like Heaven and Earth. The old him was like a dead man buried in the ground, and the current him was like a hero flying in the sky.
[The body is now up to par]
[But the body has its limits]
[We will maintain the body and slowly increase it overtime]
[Now its time to advance the mind]
The main focus of learning martial arts was now replaced with accumulating knowledge and the practical application of it.
[You like games right?]
[Lets put a focus on tactics and strategy]
[Lets learn games like Chess, Shogi, Xiangqi, and Go]
[We will go down the list]
Years passed as Xinh learned the basic rules, some theory, gained some tactics and strategies of the different games.
During the initial stages of chess, thoughtless actions often lead to mistakes like hanging pieces. Knowing how the pieces moved was important. Being aware of all the possibilities was hard. White had the initiative, the first move and it was annoying to choose to either be aggressive or play slow. Xinh preferred black because he could punish white's initiative. He was more methodical and defensive as black yet he was fiery and passionate as white.
But every time he got 'good' at a certain game it would then be dropped just in time for a new game to be learned.
Xiangqi was absolutely tactical and explosive. Offense was king.
Shogi was interesting because some pieces could come back to the board. This is like saving prisoners, or converting enemies to allies. It was very slow and strategical.
Go took the longest because it was a lot slower, and the concepts were esoteric and ethereal.
Xinh had a feeling, an ever indescribable feeling rise up within him.
A grasp of a bigger concept.
It was the 2000th day of his journey and Xinh was now moving on.
[The mind and body have exceeded the heart]
[Now it is time to grow the heart]
[Time to learn Magic]
[Learn the art of illusions, cardistry, and magic]
[Buy some deck of cards]
[Live with it, breathe with it]
Xinh learned a lot from simply learning card tricks, and illusions. Perspective was interesting to manipulate. One can show a certain illusion on the surface. Yet have completely different intent in the heart.
'If you only see the world with at face value, you will fall for the illusions of the heart. He summarized.'
It was the 3000th day of Xinh's journey now. Xinh was now absolutely incomprehensibly different. He could understand the heart of others, he understood the mind, and the body of himself.
[The heart, mind and body are unifying well]
[Its been 9 years since I've awakened within you]
[The trinity of factors is at a basic level]
Thus far, Every 9 years Xinh advanced to a completely different realm. He was balancing, learning and comprehending.
The first 9 years he could be considered to be at a basic level. But at this barest 'basic' level he was a thousandfold stronger than the old him.
The middle 9 years allowed Xinh to reach an intermediate level.
The final 9 years Xinh reached the advanced level.
It was not linear growth, it was not even exponential level of growth. It was at the speed and level of tetration.
There was only a little more time until the day the world will change forever.
Xinh was sprinting, jumping, climbing and vaulting through the city. The city was his jungle. He was now approaching 50 years of age. Yet he didn't look older than 30. Only he knew the passage of time. He ran up to the walls, and pulled himself to the roof. Grabbing a deck of cards from his pocket, he shuffled to the best of his abilities. He pulled 3 cards from three separate and different locations from the deck.
'Ace of Hearts, Queen of Diamonds, Nine of Spades.'
Xinh flipped the cards and saw that they were the same. It was a surreal feeling. He intuitively and instinctively knew whatever card was coming. Even if someone else shuffled his cards, he could tell which card was which. As long as he touched the deck once and the deck was in his vicinity he could just tell.
Xinh enjoyed the world, it was beautiful, especially because he brought magic and mystery to anyone he met.
[The end is near]
[You should enter a retreat]
[You should feel it approaching]
It was a little more than a month to go. Xinh prepared adequate food and water. Slowly he sat down in a lotus position and closed his eyes. Entering a state of meditation was easy now. He could now 'see' his internal world. He was more in tune and harmonized with his body, mind, and heart.
The days trickled by until the moment.
An hour before the world changed, Xinh entered a state of enlightenment. The accumulation of all his knowledge, experience, and comprehension unified as one from the past 9999 days condensed into a single moment once again.
[You can now be considered an expert. Just in time.]
Xinh flashed open his eyes and that was also the instant the world came alive. It twisted, expanded, and grew. The reality of the world was distorted as the world shattered and reformed in an instant.
[Time to show you your 'new' status window, ZiN]
[Status Window]
[Name: ZiN (Xinh)]
Strength: 1
Agility: 1
Endurance: 1
Stamina: 1
Perception: 1
[Aspects]
[Abilities]
Information flashed in the back of his mind and the value of 1 for the physical stats were using his current self as a baseline which was further boosted by the new yet familiar energy surging within him. The new energy made Xinh know he was a hundred times stronger than just a few seconds ago.
'What a nice feeling. I could get used to this. So this type of energy was always within me…'
The city was still running somehow. Electricity and everything was still working. Xinh exited his home. He took in the view, everything looks strangely normal yet it feels completely different.