Ten days passed.
Ten days since Dan began his strange training, ten days of repeated attempts to cut down trees using stone axes coated in chakra.
He stood before the same massive tree he had been training on all this time. Its trunk was filled with scratches and marks now, a silent witness to hundreds, even thousands, of attempts.
He gripped the stone axe, closed his eyes, and focused.
Chakra flowed from his body, through his arms, toward the axe. It covered it with a thin, faint blue layer, taking the shape of its edge.
He opened his eyes and raised the axe.
A strike.
The axe hit the trunk, and the chakra held. It did not dissipate; it did not distort.
A second strike.
It held again.
A third strike.
And a fourth.
And a fifth.
After the seventh strike, the chakra began to vibrate slightly, losing its solidity. After the tenth strike, it finally vanished.
Dan stopped and looked at the axe in his hand, then at the tree. There were clear marks now—deep cuts in the trunk, much deeper than what he was capable of doing ten days ago.
He hadn't succeeded in cutting the tree completely yet, but he had taken a big step forward. Currently, he could maintain the solidity and sharpness of the chakra on the stone axe for several consecutive hits. Ten strikes. It was a great achievement compared to the first day when the chakra dissipated on the very first blow.
But more importantly was the improvement he noticed in his chakra control.
He became able to shape the chakra with greater precision, control its density, and direct it smoothly. He felt it at a deeper level and could control it with his will.
This great improvement made him more certain that the path he chose was correct. Dan knew that this strange, difficult, and exhausting training was paying off.
But training with the axe wasn't all he was doing.
Dan began to divide his time carefully, distributing it between different exercises.
Every morning, before dawn, he started with physical drills. His military calisthenics routine that he hadn't abandoned for years. Push-ups, squats, jumps, sit-ups—everything. He pushed his body to its limits, building it and strengthening it. He never stopped developing his physical power.
After the morning exercises, he would climb the mountain.
He made this a part of his daily routine. Every day, he climbed the mountain at whose base he lived, reached its peak, and then came down.
At first, it was a bit exhausting even with his fitness. The mountain was high, the terrain was rugged, breathing was harder, and the climb took time. But as the days passed, it became easier. His muscles felt stronger, and his endurance was greater.
Dan sometimes used chakra to climb, sticking his feet to vertical rocks, practicing tree climbing at the same time. For him, it was a comprehensive workout, building physical strength and chakra control together.
After descending from the mountain, he worked on the axe training for several hours. Attempt after attempt, strike after strike, until his chakra was almost drained.
Then he took a break and went to the river.
Spear fishing became his primary way of getting food. He had made a primitive spear from a long, straight branch with a sharp tip. He stood at the edge of the pond under the waterfall, waiting patiently. When he saw a fish, he struck with speed and precision.
At first, he failed more than he succeeded. But with time, his skills improved—more accurate, more patient. Sometimes, if he caught a rabbit in one of the traps he set in the forest, he used the simple restraint seal he learned from the hunting team to practice it before eating the rabbit.
In the evening, after cooking and eating what he caught, he sat on a large branch of one of the massive trees and began refining chakra.
Hours of deep meditation, focusing on the energy inside him, trying to increase it and expand his capacity, even if just a little. It was a strict, exhausting routine that left almost no free time.
From dawn until midnight, Dan was either training, hunting, or refining chakra. There was no time for rest, entertainment, or anything else.
But despite that, Dan didn't mind. In fact, he enjoyed this rhythm of life.
He felt there was something satisfying in the simplicity, in the routine, and in knowing exactly what to do every day. No difficult decisions, no exhausting social interactions, no external problems. Just him, the training, and nature.
And most importantly, he felt the improvement.
Every day, he felt he was a little stronger than the day before. His body became more solid, his muscles more defined, and his endurance greater. His chakra control improved remarkably. He became able to do things he couldn't do a while ago.
The improvement wasn't just physical. His mindset also became more solid.
In his previous life, in his original world, Dan was a weak-willed person who gave up easily and avoided difficulties. Anything that required great effort, he would leave. He always looked for the easiest way.
But here, in this isolation, in this constant training, Dan was changing.
He became more patient, more determined, and more capable of enduring pain and exhaustion. Every day he pushed himself more, and every day he expanded his limits and discovered he could go further than he thought.
This mental strength, this solidity, was no less important than physical strength or chakra. Because in the end, what separates survivors from failures is not luck, but will. The will to continue even when everything is difficult, even when success seems impossible.
And Dan was building this will, day after day.
He sat that night at the edge of the pond, looking at the moon's reflection on the water.
He was satisfied.
He hadn't achieved his goals yet; he hadn't become strong enough or found a path to immortality. But he was on the right track, at least for him. He felt he was moving forward, step by step, steadily.
He felt hope.
"I will continue. I will continue for a hundred days, a thousand days, ten thousand days if necessary. Either I succeed and reach what I aim for, or I and my dreams will be buried in this place as my grave."
He stood up and looked at the towering mountain behind him and the shining stars in the sky.