Body Cultivation Hurts - Chapter 28

Author Note: I plan on releasing this book later this year. For those of you who read the chapters over a year ago now, the long term plan is to have several characters in the Heaven's Laws universe that eventually meet up in a Avengers style mash up.

I've been sitting on a few chapters in this series, writing it off and on. It's not the main book I'm writing now, but I feel its a good time to start releasing some of what I have. After Codename, we'll be jumping into Heaven's Laws book 3.

If interested, just search for Body Cultivation Hurts and it will bring up the old chapters. You can expect a few chapters next week.

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More than one hundred people broke through on the first day of their training camp. It was one of many breakthroughs they’d need to reach their goal, but it was a glorious start. Nathan watched as men and women without the talent of the elites gave themselves over to the same level of training. It was what he’d hoped for. He hadn’t thought so many would try to match his intensity.

That changed once dinner time neared. He planned on insisting they keep working and continue throughout the night, when Googee stepped up and got in his face. “Food isn’t just for nutrition. You might not need it but for many this is the reward for a hard day’s work and will boost their morale. There are also some conversations that need to take place between family leaders and their younger members.

“Encourage them to take a break. I’ll provide the food. You don’t have to sit with them but at least grab something as a prop and walk around while greeting them. Then you can try and get them to remain awake for the rest of the night with their amateur energy gathering skills.”

When he grinned and nodded, she looked surprised.

“Thanks, Momma Goo,” he replied. “Like always, you help me face reality.”

She sighed, then patted him on the cheek.

Half an hour later, he was walking around with a turkey leg the size of a club, at least it tasted like turkey, and he waved it around as if it were a prize. Everyone just found some random place to sit, so he wandered about and greeted people as she suggested. Not everyone took the time to eat. Oleksiy Kulyk was one of the people present who commonly had to eat to stay so massive and was more than happy to go without knowing the nutrition pill would supply him with everything he needed. There were others that used the time to catch up with others.

As Goo mentioned, Nathan saw Jun eating with the Takao Clan, discussing the day with them as much as eating. Ma Mencius was the same, except he spent the time with his wife and daughter.

Goo had also given him a hint about how tonight would go. She’d been right. With energy breathing techniques, one could recover their body and energy reserves with the qi it provided, but it took discipline. The first person fell asleep trying to cultivate while sitting with their back against the wall. By midnight, two thirds of the training camp were sleeping. He didn’t try to wake anyone. They had impressed him enough for the first day.

With less people, the people that kept training had more freedom to do as they liked. When Jun Takao approached him with Ma Mencius at his side, Nathan knew they were hoping they might be able to challenge one another. He joined them and they started with squats. Seeing Jun do a deep squat in kendo pants, and Ma in his Kung Fu uniform was comical, but they didn’t disappoint. Both men had reached large success.

They chose to load the bar with one half ton. It was a nice even number that rolled off the tongue. Both men were smaller than Nathan and neither of them was a body cultivator, so it wasn’t an event designed with their strengths in mind. Jun went first. As he did, people started to gather. Their voices remained measured with everyone sleeping, but the grunts and shouts of exertion had become so common that they were background noise to those exhausted enough to sleep.

The once old patriarch, but now transformed, emphasized his breathing almost too much. As he neared 50 squats with impeccable form, who could complain?

At 57, the man collapsed. Nathan had one side of the bar and Ma had the other. The Japanese swordsman dangled there before his grip gave out.

“Well done, brother Jun,” Ma proclaimed.

Someone was already there to bring him his recovery pill and water. It was Yuma Takao. He’d noticed how attentive she was to her grandfather before. It seemed he’d already taken her under his wing. Nathan knew it would happen eventually but hadn’t known she was already being groomed to lead the clan this early.

After setting the bar back on the rack, he noticed the crowd. The MMA fighters Silvester Hitchens and Zhu Guo stood together with the Franco brothers at their side. Urick was with them, and so was Katrina. The Olympian Eugene Carr stood with the former gymnast Vanessa Montgomery. Oleksiy Kulyk was there with his wife, and Justin stood at the man’s side. He was one of the few people only a head shorter than the Ukrainian. Mitch Travis was observing from the back as he always did. Kyle was there, and so was Jess. And that wasn’t all. Those present were all people he'd personally invited.

When Ma stepped up to the bar, the people that had come started loading the ones beside them.

Something inside Nathan started to churn. Everything about this moment was impossible. He hadn’t even had time to mourn most of their deaths, and yet here they were.

When Ma had bested Jun by two squats, Nathan was quickly introduced to Ma Yingyue, the man’s daughter. The young woman was assisting him as Yuma had assisted Jun. He already saw through the man’s intentions. Yuma was on her way to becoming the family head, but Ma Mencius just wanted to show off his well-behaved daughter in hope that she caught someone’s eye.

Nathan didn’t go next. Instead, he took that opportunity to call over Silvester Hitchens. They all now knew him, but he took the time to inform them how they’d known each other in his first life. Commander Hitchens had led a platoon as had Ma and Jun. The two Asian men had been rivals early in the tower, though never hostile, but near the mid floors Hitchens had convinced them to fight with him. From that day on, they did every major mission together. Mitch Travis would later join them as their commander of commanders, except he insisted on fighting on the front line with his own platoon. He would’ve invited Mitch over, but he already knew the man would refuse.

After Silvester had gone, the Franco brothers took turns. Those that had already squatted at a different station still joined when asked and simply moved on to different exercises. In that way, he introduced those presents to one another. He didn’t touch on more personal relationships. Vanessa and Eugene would have a fling, though he wasn’t sure how serious they’d gotten. Silvester would marry.

His friends from his home gym weren’t left out. He commended them all. Justin would become a respectable tank. Urick was amongst the most talented spearman he’d ever seen, and Sam had a knack for energy circulation, which was rare for a body cultivator. Rich would become a dependable scout, and Katrina, once she learned to control her temper, developed one of the best lateral movement techniques amongst the rankers. As for Kyle, they already knew him, but that left Jess. What should he say about her? She’d been strong early on but ended up falling for a guy and joined up with the man’s group after that. She’d died on the mid floors. It was a respectable death, but Nathan was of the mind to not let her go this time. The guy she’d married had been a good guy, so he didn’t want to block their relationship. He just couldn’t let her die.

There was one thing, more than anything else, that carried the men and women through the next day and into those that followed. They began to experience it firsthand—real progression.

There were people amongst the group that had hardly been able to squat the bar before Initiation that were soon doing as many plates as some of the best powerlifters in the world. As for those with experience, no record was left unbroken.