Severing Time & Space

How Can I Get Stronger?

"Fifty-four... fifty-five... fifty-six... huff... huff..."

Wu Jian's arms strained as he did pushups. He was resting his weight on his knuckles as he lowered his torso, held position for several seconds, then lifted himself back up. It was a process he repeated over and over.

His hands, arms, and legs stung as the cold air froze the sweat forming along his skin. Winter might have ended, but that did not mean the temperature had changed much. Zahn City was located at a relatively high elevation, so even though Spring had technically begun, it would be at least another few weeks before the weather became easier to bear.

As if to emphasize this point, white powder remained on the ground, sparse though it was.

"Fifty-seven... fifty-eight... huff... fifty-nine..."

Another reason for the temperature might also be due to the time. It was early in the morning. The sun was just beginning its climb into the eastern sky, but even with its appearance, the forest they were in remained dark. The trees kept sunlight from reaching this place, save the sparse geometric sprinkles of light caused by the sun peeking in through the canopy.

"Sixty... sixty-one... haaaah... sixty... two..."

Twigs and rocks scraped against Wu Jian's knuckles, causing bursts of sharp discomfort to travel from his hands up his arms. He was lucky they didn't bleed anymore. His first month of training like this had been harsh, not only because it was during winter, but also because he kept getting cut. His blood had become thoroughly soaked into this section of the forest. But now his skin had formed hard calluses that protected his hands to an extent.

"Sixty... three... si-sixty... four... sixty... five..."

Sweat poured from his body in rivulets, caking his training gi to his skin, as the muscles in his triceps, shoulders, and chest burned. Pushups were obviously one of the most straightforward methods of exercising and detailed in the scrolls Grandpa Son had given them. There were several different kinds of push-ups, and Wu Jian began every morning doing at least one variation alongside his other exercises.

"Sixty... six... sixty... se... seven... sixty... eight..."

Wu Jian was not the only person exercising that morning, of course, as Wu Meiying was also doing exercises, but hers were wholly different from his. While his exercises were all about strengthening the body through tearing and restoring muscles with explosive bursts of energy, Wu Meiying's exercises relied on slowly building strength through stretches and training the core muscles.

What she did looked a lot more graceful than what he was doing. He was a little envious of how she appeared like a beautiful swan as she went through the motions, but he knew their exercises were different because their styles of combat would diverge as time went on. Wu Meiying would eventually begin learning combat meant specifically for those with slighter figures.

"Sixty-nine... haaaah! Haaaaah! Haaaah! Just... one... more... seventy...!"

After finishing his set of seventy, Wu Jian collapsed stomach first onto the ground. This was the most he could do at this point in time. It had increased from a month ago when the most he could do was five. Seventy seemed like a vast improvement, but he still didn't think he was growing stronger fast enough.

Wu Jian was motivated to continue and didn't stay down for long. He caught his second wind and moved into his next set of exercises, which included doing dips between two branches, squats, lunges, jumping jacks, hanging sit-ups (he hung upside down from the branches by his feet), pull-ups, and a variety of other workouts. By the time he was done, his lungs were burning, his muscles felt like they were on fire, and his body was drenched in sweat.