The Grind Pt1

After a month of tireless remodelling and furnishing, he made a home of the hole.

The style was heavily influenced by Samurai Jack's knowledge as its appearance follows the traditional Japanese home consisting of tatami mats, timber, and clay. The overall size is your standard modest anime flat that has two en suite bedrooms, a small office, a bathroom, and a kitchen open to the quaint sitting room.

Old him did not have the skill or the knowledge to accomplish it but thankful Samurai Jack did.

Although the living quarters were simple he held nothing back when it came to a space that could accommodate his training for instance he had a second-floor gym, a sauna, and a 60ft deep pool. In addition to rooms for training, he had a workshop that had everything from glue and paper to a furnace and water jet cutter.

Although Samurai Jack was no blacksmith he had a substantial amount of knowledge that was never put to practice.

Sol surprisingly got used to living as an undocumented citizen very quickly despite not having a traditional home it could be said that he's living a better life than most. Not needing to endlessly monitor his spending or do his taxes is a freedom he never thought would be possible but here he is living the dream in a hole.

At six in the morning, a soft alarm rang as Joel quietly rolled over and with a slow kick of his legs removed his blanket before he blankly stared at the ceiling.

He had planned a gruelling training schedule so in preparation he did a few light exercises during the renovation of his home.

"Urgh day 1 of nothing but pain"

After cleaning himself up he changed into a gym ware consisting of shorts and a shirt.

He started with a warm-up consisting of a 2k run around his pool with a 100-meter sprint at the end. The exercises he's put together from Jack's memory are a mix of stretches, callisthenics, and deep diving. These three focus on the most important aspects of Jack's strength which are balance, flexibility, and stamina.

After his run, he dropped to the ground and followed the Shaolin brutal method of stretching. Then he did the five fundamental Shaolin kicks and stances, this took an hour. Followed by a 2k run before coming to a mountain with stairs which he then lightly jogged up. Reaching the top he then turned around and went on to his stomach with his hands out in front of him as he crawled down the same steps.

The best exercise to get into calisthenics is pushups but what's even better is burpees which are a combination of squat jumps and push-ups that flow quickly into the other with no rest time. Standing tall with his back straight he begins by doing 1 pike push up which is then walked out into a push up then 1 archer push-up for each arm, and from there into a plank before doing a deep squat jump into a standing position. Repeating this 10 times with no breaks in between.

He rested for 5 seconds with his back to the ground and limbs spread like a starfish while focusing on controlling his breathing before repeating it once more. After resting it was 2 minute horse stance. Then it's 2 reps and five sets of pull-ups, hanging knee raises, archer pull-ups for each arm, muscle-ups then dips.

He took a ten-second breather and started doing some basic stretches before doing a 1k run with a short sprint at the end.

His untrained body was numb. Gritting his teeth he removed his clothes and dragged his already exhausted body to the pool. Like a corps, he floated along the surface hoping to relieve some muscle pain.

Three minutes passed as his body regained some strength, he turned over and dived. Like an anchor, plunged towards the darkness of his 60ft deep pool. As he reached the bottom he rolled forward and kicked off the ground then he quickly swam to the surface to catch his breath. He did this four times before ending his morning training with a lap of butterfly strokes around the pool.

Stripping down to his underwear he took a not-so-relaxing bath in a tank of ice-cold water that made him forget about his exhaustion.

After cleaning up he had a large breakfast and began noting down his thoughts on how to earn a gacha roll.

"It's not a 'Sign-In' system as it has been an entire 3 months. Let's go through every System cliché. Hero, villain, money, messing with the plot, contact with main characters, making friends with main characters, killing, stealing plot items and entertainment"

"Hero and Villain systems are out since I've stolen at least a million dollars worth of items and saved those girls that were in the van. Money could be possible maybe I need to attain it through legal means. I could kill 5 birds with one stone for the last five if I plan it right"

"Sigh, before I even attempt any of these I need to fully acquire all of Samurai Jack's physique and skills. Currently, I've confirmed that this world has Robert Downy Jr as Iron Man and Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn but I can't be sure that it's just the vanilla Marvel and not some fucked version where everyone is a villain. If I don't see it myself I need to treat everything with caution while still taking note of the possibility"

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Seated in a tub of murky yellow water that consisted of medicinal herbs was Sol, eyes closed and legs crossed. His brows furrowed as he felt a burning stinging sensation coming from the wounds scattered on his body.

It had now been a year and he's absorbed not only Samurai Jacks's physical abilities and martial arts but also his other skills like language, war tactics, horse riding and navigating through storms.

The light clicks of a metronome quietly echoed as he inhaled and exhaled manually 'One long inhale then 3 short forced inhales, hold for 2 minutes. . . . . Long exhale and hold for half a minute. . . . '

Fifteen minutes of silence later he sprung from his seated position. Standing at 5'11ft with his long lush black hair draped over his shoulders and back, water tumbling down the nooks and bumps of his muscular yet lean body.

Sharp jawline and cheekbones with hooded cold brown eyes under his thick brows.

Under closer inspection, his body was riddled with scars and bruises most of them clustered around his forearms, hands, stomach, legs and feet. His current body was vastly different from his first day at Marvel. His original height of 5'7ft which is now 5'11ft and what used to be fat was now compact muscle filled with speed, power and flexibility.

Wearing nothing but baggy shorts he sat down to have a large breakfast. While stuffing his face he went over all the knowledge he'd gained.

"The year is 2008, Stark is still an arms dealer. After watching over him for quite a bit it's safe to say that he is the same stark from the MCU. X-men and Brotherhood have made some small appearances sadly I am not entirely sure I could observe them without getting caught since they have powers. Word of a vigilante appeared in Hell's Kitchen this is most likely the young daredevill. Captain America's storyline follows the MCU I don't remember when he reappears. After watching over Osborn I found out the Parkers used to work there before eventually losing their life in a car accident. Sadly couldn't get any info on the spider serum or narrow down as two which spider they messed with. Now that I'm somewhat capable I can start trying to earn a gacha"