Agility

[Lian Yu, early hours of the morning…]

Bare chested and barefooted, David stood on the roof of the monastery, taking in the view of the island as steam escaped his mouth and nostrils. He didn't know the time, but judging from the chill and the slowly brightening sky, he guessed it to be somewhere around 5 am.

Squinting his eyes and scanning the visible section of the island, he tried to decide on which direction to move next. For obvious reasons, he ruled out the direction he ran from and the one that led to the sea. That left him with the equally difficult option of going further inland.

With no means of navigation, the only things he possessed to ensure his continued survival were the mysterious healing factor, [Eagle Vision], and his past life's memories. 'Looks like I'll have to stick with my original plan: keep moving until I find a safe place to hide,' he thought with finality.

Gazing at the endless stretch of green, he became a bit overwhelmed. But, knowing what was at stake, he steeled himself and chose a random direction, one that led away from the sea and Fyers. Breathing out sizable puffs of steam, he climbed down and went back into the temple through a window on the uppermost floor.

Once inside, he returned to the room he spent the night in and grabbed the leftover pieces of wood. Downstairs on the ground floor, he grabbed more wood, some intact clay pots, and a few metal lamps before arranging them in the inventory. After a quick double-check of everything, he clenched his fist as the knife appeared in it.

All of that set, one last preparation remained. He brought up the system and added the two available points to agility, assaulting his body with another sensation apart from the tingles. A warm stream of energy emanated from the depths of his soul and trickled to every corner of his body with directed intent.

The energy moved with a mind of its own, gathering more in some places than others. To be precise, while it transformed and enhanced his whole body, his brain, spine and limbs received the brunt of it, washing him with the kind of relaxation he only felt after a long good rest.

Unfortunately, this blissful warmth receded after a few short seconds, leaving him a bit forlorn and disappointed. To quell the unpleasant feeling, he began to stretch and bob around, just to see if the points produced any drastic changes.

What he discovered demolished the expectations and theories he formulated prior to the point addition. Unable to put the change into words, he did the next best thing and exited the temple.

Impatient and expectant, he saw no better time to put his discovery to the test. Activating [Eagle Vision], he broke into a jog and quickly picked up speed, darting into a sprint that saw him vanish into the jungle within a matter of seconds.

…..

After sprinting for a good while, David concluded that his movement speed had indeed increased, but leaving at just that understated the potency of the enhancement. Compared to the increase in speed, the improvement to his balance, coordination, and reactions astounded him the most.

At the start of the sprint, he took things slow in order not to disorient himself. However, what he expected did not happen, and the opposite rather occurred. His movements were not just faster, they were… for lack of a better word, easier. For five whole minutes, he ran barefoot in the dense jungle, dodging every sharp rock and stick with an ease that befuddled and excited him.

If asked to describe it, the best explanation he could give would be, 'My body just moves the way I want it to.' And indeed, that was true. The stat boost not only added to his existing agility, it also equalized it. Think of it this way: he gained two points in raw movement speed, but four in balance, coordination, and reactions.

In the system, the various attribute values represented the physical and mental heights David could reach through conscious effort. Being in the unfamiliar body of Oliver Queen, the amount of control and physical effort he could exert with it was naturally low.

However, this limitation didn't only stem from his nascent connection to the body. It also had to do with the fact that the original had never undergone any training. Take bodybuilders or athletes as an example. The heights of strength and speed they could achieve through conscious effort were leagues above what normal people could do.

Imagine a situation where a master parkourist and a normal person with no training could both run at a top speed of 10m/s per second. If both were asked to sprint through an obstacle course, who would emerge victorious?

The master parkourist!

Why?

Because the parkourist was more agile. By training, he had obtained better control, mastery, and usage of his body and speed. In addition to moving really fast, his balance, coordination, and reflexes had been honed to the utmost. He could perform complicated maneuvers at said high speeds with ease.

Such remarkable grace and nimbleness, acquired through years of pain and sweat, is what David gained in a matter of seconds by adding points. His existing agility not only saw a boost, it was also "unlocked," giving him the fully excavated balance and coordination of his prior points.

Were he to race or fight against his past self now, the latter would lose so bad it wouldn't even be funny.

Coming to a stop near a tree, he calmed down and evaluated everything.

'That's why…' he realized, recalling the system's definition of agility. 'Fast and easy movement... I assumed it was solely about speed. But if that were the case, why would it use the word "agility"?' He sighed at his oversight. 'I need to pay more attention.'

Having been so engrossed in his problems, he paid little attention to the attributes and only took their surface level meaning into account, failing to grasp their deeper significance. How else could he have missed something like this?

'When I hear agility, I think Spiderman, Daredevil. The answer was right in front of me! How could I have missed this?' he wondered. After a brief search for an answer, he chuckled. 'It's this island. It's driving me crazy.'

Admonishing himself to double down on meditation and be more mindful, he shifted his attention to the surroundings, scanning the monochrome world for any threats. Finding nothing but trees and birds, he got the confidence to proceed with the test he had in mind.

He chose a short tree, its trunk about 10 feet in height, and placed a good distance between it and himself. He then went over the instructions for the wall run, a basic parkour maneuver. Mouthing and mentally reviewing the steps to himself, he dashed towards the tree, intent on succeeding with this first try.

It took him less than a second to cross three out of the four meter distance, the point at which he lunged at the tree with a powerful leap. With his newfound precision and control, he angled his body according to the images in his mind and maintained the impressive speed.

Pounding his feet against the trunk, he propelled himself up with the gathered momentum and soon reached for the lowest hanging branch, the slip he expected remaining fiction.

*Pak!*

With both hands, he grasped the branch and hung there, a stupid smile on his face. 'I did it! I fucking did it!'

As someone who lived his whole life getting bashed in the face by his constant failed assumptions and unmet expectations, succeeding at something on the first try was alien to him. As such, even though the evidence stared him right in the face, he felt a need to have another go and confirm that indeed, this wasn't just luck.

He had to confirm that this happened because he followed the instructions.

*Thud!*

Letting go of the branch, he dropped down and jogged back to the starting point. Going through the prior motions, he shot forth with increased vigor and razor-sharp focus. Without fail, he traversed the vertical path with the same smooth movements and latched onto the same branch, his heart drumming with excitement and joy.

'Yes! I'm not cursed! I'm not fucking cursed!!' he shouted internally, retaining acute awareness of his terrible circumstances despite his joy. It would be stupid if he shouted and put himself in an unfortunate situation similar to that of yesterday.

After taking a few seconds to calm down, he tried to pull himself up and only succeeded after straining himself to the utmost, a situation that gave him a reality check. His speed may be prodigious now, but his strength left much to be desired. He could wall run alright, but pulling himself up the wall was a whole different matter.

Seated on the thicker part of the branch, his breathing evened out while the burn in his arms and shoulders faded. In no time, he became assured of completing another pull-up, albeit with the same difficulty. 'Wait! Doesn't this mean I can work out forever?'

Being an avid reader in his past life, he had come across many articles that went into detail regarding various topics, one of them being weightlifting. 'Lifting heavy weights damages one's muscles, leading to their repair, something that makes them stronger to withstand the damage that occurred in the first place.'

'The body uses protein and other nutrients for this. I haven't felt hungry or thirsty since I got here, meaning the force behind the regeneration gives my body whatever nutrients it needs. If so, doesn't that mean I can build muscle by spamming exercise?'

Before he could finish that thought, a pop of color flashed in the distance, like a lighter in a dark room.

In a bid to accustom himself to the awkward and disorienting visuals induced by [Eagle Vision], he kept it active this whole time, even while he ran. And so seeing color emerge like this, his calmness made a quick transition to a mix of disbelief and wariness.

Squinting his eyes to ensure they did not play tricks on him, he made out two more of the colorful shapes, his face hardening at what they signified.

Moving red objects.

That meant only one thing: enemies.