Experiments and Training

Chapter 4 – Experiments and Training

Exercising while agitated wasn't a smart idea, so Eric stayed still until his emotions settled down and when they did, he didn't start doing physical training right away, instead he opened his skill list first.

[Pain Endurance Level 3 (12%) (Passive)

Pain is a subjective feeling and each person has a different threshold for pain.

The body's pain tolerance increases.

+9% Increase in your body's ability to tolerate pain.]

[Physical Endurance Level 2 (61%) (Passive)

The body's durability increases, resulting in less damage taken.

+2% decrease in damage taken by physical attacks.]

These two skills he got 5 minutes after first waking up in this world, and even though each skill leveled up once or twice the bonuses he got from them was still low so he couldn't be certain they did any change to his body.

The other 3 skills oh got later however were a different story.

[Greater Vitality Level 4 (21%) (Passive)

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

The body's Life-Force increases, resulting in faster recovery from injuries and depleted stamina.

+20% Increase in your body's vitality.

+20% Increase in your body's recovery.]

This skill also popped up on his first day in this world while he was still in the hospital, it was also the skill to level up the fastest. That kind of made sense considering he was recovering from brain surgery and a malnutrition body.

Every time the skill [Pain Endurance] leveled up the increase he received was 3% while [Physical Endurance] was only a measly 1% for each level.

Don't get it wrong, they were awesome skills but they also required a lot of work before Eric could reap any tangible results.

[Greater Vitality] however was a different story, for each level up, Eric received a 5% increase in vitality and recovery! Making him feel a cozy, warm current spreading through his body and improving it.

And the best part was that the skill not only improved his body's ability to recover faster from wounds and injuries but also affected his ability to recuperate from depleted stamina and tiredness!

A [Greater Vitality] at level 4 granted him a total of 20% increase in vitality and recovery and that lively feeling full of energy in his body was something one can't miss.

The sensation each time was amazing, addicting even …

However, seeing a semi-blue transparent screen listing a list of different skills only confused Eric about his current situation, was he in Naruto world or not?

So he decided to do some research and scout for information regarding his current situation.

The results left him with mixed feelings.

In the process of Dr. Erza checking what he was still remembering before the surgery, she found to her joy he can still recognize kanji and read. Of course, she had no idea it was Eric who know Japanese from his previous life and not the boy, Renji Yue, whose body he was inhabiting still somehow knowing how to read.

So every day of the three weeks he was in the hospital, she made sure to bring with her books for him to read.

The books she brought varied from child stories and romance novels to famous characters, and some on notable events in the history of the shinobi world. Of course, many of the books were straightforward propaganda about how great Konohagakure is, how remarkable and heroic its legendary shinobi are, and so on. Eric did his best to filter all that horse crap and paid attention only to the relevant knowledge he needed.

In 3 weeks he managed to finish many books and bring his understanding of the world to a satisfactory level for mow.

And even though when Eric watched the anime with his daughter he didn't really pay much attention to the anime but focused instead more on the experience of father-daughter bonding, as he compared what he now know to what he could scarcely remember, Eric was 95% convinced he somehow reincarnated in the Naruto world. As unbelievable as it sounds.

The last 5% were still on since a small part of him still believed everything was a dream or a delusion somehow.

As for his other issue, the skill messages that kept popping up, he also did some experiments to check if he got a system or not.

As a very busy man, maneuvering between working in the underworld as an elite hitman for hire and raising a child as a single parent, Eric didn't have time to play video games. But from what little knowledge he did have, he know what to look for.

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to find a Menu/Status window, nor parameters such as HP, Str or Dex. No inventory, no quests, no experience points.

Nada.

The only thing that was presented to him was the list of passive skills [Pain Endurance], [Physical Endurance], [Greater Vitality].

So he decided to focus on figuring out how the skills he did have worked and how to get more skills.

After contemplating for a while and recalling how he got the three skills initially, Eric did various different actions in an effort to see if he can get more skills.

He was quite limited by his environment in the hospital room and he was also still recovering from brain surgery so he only acquired two more skills.

[Body Conditioning Level 2 (21%) (Passive)

Increases the rate at which your body improves when trained, resulting in more gain with less effort.

+10% Increase in physical exercises effectiveness.]

[Superior Senses and instincts Level 3 (16%) (Passive)

Increases your body's 5 natural senses, reflexes, and instincts. Resulting in better response time and enhanced senses.

+15% % Increase to your body's natural senses and instincts]

Eric got the skill [Body Conditioning] after doing some pushups two weeks ago, and [Superior Senses and instincts] was attained a few days before he was released from the hospital when he was eavesdropping on some nurses.

Other than these two skills Eric didn't manage to get anything else.

Even when he meditated and sensed his chakra or while he moved it clumsily around his body, he still didn't get any new skills.

'Maybe I can only get passive skills and not active ones?' Watching the 5 skills on the semi-transparent blue screen in front of him, Eric had a speculation 'It also seems all 5 skills are related to reinforcing and strengthening my body… maybe that's why I didn't get any chakra skills after I discovered it?'

Pondering on his theory for a few minutes, Eric felt he might be on to something but he still couldn't be certain.

'There is no point thinking about this any longer, I already did everything I could think about...Now all I can do is level up the skills I do have and let time do its work'

So with that, Eric closed the screen and started running around the trees for 5 minutes before he dropped to the ground doing sets of strength exercises such as push-ups and sit-ups.

However, Eric's untrained body was so pathetically weak he could only exercise for barely 15 minutes before he had to stop or risk injuring his body.

"Huff~Huff" Flat on the floor, Eric's chest heaved up and down as sweat dripped down his forehead. His arms and legs were numb and his throat was dry. He barely had any strength left in him to wipe the sweat from getting into his eyes.

'I know I am weak right now but this is alright, from here I can only improve! In fact, 15 minutes of intense physical exercises for a body that was malnutritional for over a year and then underwent brain surgery a month ago, this is honestly better than I expected… maybe it's thanks to [Greater Vitality] and [Body Conditioning ] improving my body?'

Not discouraged, Eric leaned back on a tree to rest, and he could feel strength return to his body at a fast rate, probably thanks to [Greater Vitality]. Pulling a bottle of water from his backpack and gulped several mouthfuls of sweet water to quench his thirst.

Opening the skills data again he was pleased to see [Body Conditioning] improve slightly when suddenly he received a message he got a new skill.

[No Limits Level 1 (0%) (Passive)]

Every living organism has a limit to its physical strength, where no amount of training and exercising could help.

Everyone except you!

+2% increase to your physical body upper limit.]

Reading the description of his new skill, Eric was stunned.

'This…This is awesome! If this is what I believe it is, then that means I can improve indefinitely as long as I continue to level up this skill!'

Pumped up, Eric was exhilarated.

'6 passive skills for body enhancement? This also confirms my theory is right!'

Grinning in satisfaction, Eric sat cross-legged position and began meditating to sense his chakra.

Even though Eric didn't know how to do any Chakra Control exercises such as leaf concentration or tree walking, he could still circulate his chakra around his body and muscles while he rested which was better than nothing.

This marked the start of a dull and sweaty three weeks of constant physical training and level-up skills.

.....

A/N:

If you guys have any suggestions or ideas about the story, let me know in the comments :)