One full year since he applied the Vitality Seal to his entire body. The changes are amazing and noticeable.
He looked at his long hair hanging down his back. The white strands that had begun to appear due to aging had almost disappeared. His hair returned to its original black—thick, healthy, and shiny. He touched his face while looking at his reflection in the water. The wrinkles around his eyes, those marks of passing time, had vanished. His skin became smooth, tight, and healthy. His features... his features returned to how they were in his twenties.
Dan looks young again. A man in the prime of his youth—strong, vital, and full of energy. The Vitality Seal was not only maintaining his body but reversing aging, renewing his cells, increasing their activity, and turning back time. His lifespan is extending until it reaches a peak of about 180 years.
Dan smiled with relief. This was living proof of his plan's success. But the changes were not just cosmetic. His strength increased significantly during the past year. His qualifications improved greatly as a result of constant nourishment from blood saturated with healing chakra. Every cell in his body receives continuous energy, feeding, strengthening, and evolving.
This made training effectiveness multiply significantly. Every hour of training now equals two or three hours before the seal. His body also adapts faster, builds muscle more efficiently, and recovers from fatigue with amazing speed. His chakra reserves rose significantly. It was no longer just average; it became large, and Dan estimated it to be close to the level of talented ninjas.
His physical strength improved many times over. He can now release shockwaves with his punches and kicks, destroying rocks and uprooting trees from a distance. His body became solid as steel. His muscles are very dense, his bones are exceptionally strong, and his skin is thick and resistant. He tested this several times with chakra daggers; with his body's strength, he was very resistant and barely affected. He is like a living shield.
This is the opposite of the original ninja system in this world. As he remembers from the anime, even strong ninjas in this world die if stabbed, and their bodies are not that solid. If Dan wanted to compare ninjas and the ninja system in this world, they are more like wizards than ninjas—meaning they launch powerful and destructive attacks, but their bodies are fragile. Compared to them, he carved a completely different path and an anomaly school of power; he is more like a warrior compared to the ninjas of this world.
The greatest achievement in his physical training was underwater. He recently managed to train at a depth of 270 meters. 270 meters. The pressure at this depth was immense, enough to crush an ordinary human. But his body, strengthened by the Vitality Seal, endures it. Moreover, the more the pressure increased, the more effective the Vitality Seal became. He can remain submerged at this depth for forty full minutes, training at full strength.
This immense pressure builds overwhelming physical power. Every movement under pressure requires double effort, building muscle quickly and refining explosive strength. The results are clear. On land, his punches shatter rocks, and his kicks uproot trees. His physical strength reached a level beyond even his expectations.
He did not neglect his new training either, as he significantly improved his long-range fighting style. The fine thread technique, which he began developing a year ago, has now become a deadly weapon. He can create hundreds of threads at once—each one thin as a hair, almost invisible, but sharp as the sharpest sword. He controls them remotely, directing them with precision and making them move with lightning speed. Lethal, silent, and effective.
The area where he trains this style on a nearby mountain bears witness to this. The mountain was full of cut marks on the cliffs and rocks. Deep, smooth lines, as if cut by an incredibly sharp sword. In fact, the mountain peak itself is cut off. He tried cutting it by launching a large, concentrated attack with his threads, and indeed, the peak separated completely, falling down in a massive rockslide. It was a terrifying sight, proof of his technique's power.
However, he still feels it hasn't reached the required level. A few hundred are not enough for what he wants; he wants to control tens of thousands of threads, even hundreds of thousands and more. Then it will become an extremely dangerous and incredibly effective style.
Recently, Dan also noticed another major change happening in his body. Something deeper, more fundamental than mere physical strength. He feels it especially when he refines chakra. The chakra flows in his body in a different way. Smoother, denser, more... vital. Blood saturated with healing chakra circulates more smoothly as it feeds every cell, improves it, and evolves it.
This continuous cycle changes his body on a deeper level. He didn't know exactly what was happening, but he felt the improvement, which made him relieved it wasn't a negative change. He just feels that his body is evolving, turning into something more profound than just an ordinary human body. Perhaps this is one of the side effects of the Vitality Seal—an effect he hadn't expected.
Dan's daily life also improved slightly. He caught some wild chickens two months ago. They were wild birds living in the forest in an area near him. Now, he is trying to domesticate them. He built them a small, enclosed coop next to the sheep pen, feeding them wild fruits and insects, trying to get them used to his presence. The goal is to have a permanent source of chicken meat and eggs. Dan wants a change from the mutton and fish he had been eating all this time. Variety in food is required, especially to maintain his health and improve his nutrition and mood.
He also set a new goal for himself: a herd of wild cows. He had noticed them for a while. A large herd of wild cows, about twenty heads, sometimes passes through an area near him. Huge animals that would be an excellent source of meat, leather, and milk. The last time they passed, he managed to sense them with his "Web."
His "Web" has also improved greatly. Its diameter has increased to six hundred meters now. Six hundred meters of complete sensing in all directions. It was a huge range, making him know everything happening in a wide area around him. He sensed the herd on the edge of this range, drinking from the nearby river. So Dan decided to catch some of them; he doesn't know if they will settle in the place or stay for a while before migrating elsewhere.
He won't need the whole herd, only five or six cows. Some for meat, and some females for milk. He will build them a larger barn, feed them the grass he gathers, and domesticate them over time.
Dan lay in his hut before sleeping, thinking about the past year. A year of change, growth, and evolution. His body was renewed, his strength doubled, and his skills improved. The Vitality Seal succeeded beyond his expectations in this gamble. His life, despite the isolation, is good. He has food, shelter, and safety.
He is approaching, step by step, his ultimate goal. Immortality. He hasn't reached it yet, but he is on the right track. One hundred and eighty years—this was the expected lifespan with the current Vitality Seal. But he plans to improve it, develop it, and make it more efficient. Perhaps he can increase his lifespan to two hundred, three hundred, or four hundred years. And who knows, perhaps he will eventually reach true immortality.
He looked through the window at the stars. "One year is over," he whispered to himself, "and many years are to come." He smiled, and the fire in his chest burned as usual.