Trance
The next morning, Krez awoke with the first light of dawn filtering through the leaves. As he untied himself from the secure branch, he stretched, feeling the rejuvenation coursing through his body. The forest, now bathed in the soft hues of morning, truly appeared beautiful to Krez.
Determination flashed across Krez's face as he was ready to embark on his journey of training his body. Drawing inspiration from numerous manga and stories depicting the transformation from weakness to strength, he had formulated ideas on how to train his body.
Krez engaged in a variety of exercises, from running to climbing trees and everything in between. Occasionally, he would pause to drink water from the crystal-clear pond, and if hunger struck, he would consume berries from a bush. However, he only chose berries that he observed other animals eating, avoiding those that lacked such confirmation.
Krez worked tirelessly, sweating profusely, yet he never seemed to reach his limit. His physical body always had just a little bit more to give during his training.
Krez was getting frustrated. The point of body cultivation was to push your body until it shattered, then your body became stronger, faster, and more agile as it healed. But how could this happen if he never reached his limit? How could he increase his strength if his body always had a little bit more to give.
What Krez didn't realize, though, was that his body was long past exhausted, long past shattered. He just didn't realize it. The water he drank from the pond, the berries he ate while training, even the air he breathed, was full of spiritual energy. It was keeping his body in a strange balance of destruction and reconstruction.
Krez was unwilling to give up, not as long as his body could give more. This thought drove him into a trance-like state. He would train, drink water if he got thirsty, go back to training. If he was hungry, he would eat berries, then get back to training.
While Krez was in this trance-like state, days and nights passed. He trained all through the night with just barely enough light from the moon, which seemed to be in a constant full state. Krez's original fear of predators seemed to be unfounded because there seemed to be nothing other than deer, rabbits, and birds in his little verdant grove where he was training.
After many days and nights of training in his trance-like state, during one bright morning, Krezar tripped while on a run, busting his head on a tree root sticking out of the ground, completely shattering his trance. "Ugggghh," Krez moaned, his head in pain. He felt a weight on his upper back area, confused about what happened. "When did I start running?" Krez pushed himself off the ground, and a thick tree branch, at least 5 feet long and as thick as three men, rolled off Krez's back. He looked at the branch, shocked. "How did this end up on my back? How did I even lift myself up with this on me?" Many questions buzzed through Krez's mind. "How long was I training? Was I carrying this log? What did I trip on?"
Krez looked back and saw what looked like a stone protruding from the ground. "Is this what I tripped on?" Krez thought, taking a closer look at the stone. He realized it hummed with power, reminding him of a totem or warding stone he had seen in games or read about in books.
"SNAP!" Krez heard a branch break behind him while he was examining the protruding stone. Startled, Krez stood up and slowly turned. What he saw shocked him—a massive panther, jet black, at least 5 feet tall, inching slowly toward him. Then, whoosh! The panther sprang into full speed towards Krez. He let out a yelp and stumbled backward, tripping once again over the protruding stone and rolling backward. The panther stopped just a few feet from Krez and inches from the stone.
"The panther paced back and forth in front of the protruding stone. Krez was now sure it was a warding stone, meant to keep out anything that could disrupt the harmony of the verdant grove he was teleported to. Observing the savage look on the panther's face, he realized that taking one step outside the warding stone's protection would make him a tempting dinner for the panther."
After realizing the grove was protected, Krez opted to return to the pond for some rest. The journey back consumed a considerable amount of time, and various thoughts raced through Krez's mind. He grappled with the uncertainty surrounding the duration of his training, causing significant worry. How had he slipped into a trance, dedicating an unknown amount of time to his training? Little did Krez know, that trance-like state held a revered status among body cultivators—it was akin to a cultivator's enlightenment.
Standing before the pond, Krez gazed at his reflection in the crystal-clear water. Covered in old sweat, grime, and dirt, he emitted a rancid smell. As he prepared to clean up, THUMP THUMP THUMP echoed—the pounding of his heart intensified. In the reflection, Krez witnessed his figure wither as if starved for months, weakness permeating every inch of his body. The Qi absorbed from the pond water and the delicious berries had been depleted, and the accumulated exhaustion from his training trance hit him in one overwhelming wave.
He fell into the clear pond water, floating on the surface with his chest up and nose above the waterline. Taking slow breaths, his lips submerged, allowed water to trickle into his mouth and down his throat.
Krez's luck post-reincarnation was truly remarkable. If he hadn't tripped, disrupting his training trance, he would have walked straight into the jaws of a panther. Deciding to clean up before resting, after returning to the pond area, spared him from sleeping and dying due to qi deprivation. Instead, his qi-starved body fortuitously landed in a pool rich with qi.