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Although not completely, entering the Muscle Forging Stage slightly solves one of the bigger problems of martial artists. And that is the decay and dissipation of chakra.

Chakra is an energy formed after mixing life force, motion, and intent. However, it is not a permanent conversion. It doesn’t stick around until the user uses them completely. There’s no such thing as ’storing’ chakra for later use, especially for martial artists at the start of their climb to the strength ladder.

Chakra decays almost as soon as the martial artist terminates their motion. The flow ends, and chakra slowly decays until it’s gone completely. Of course, this doesn’t result in a martial artist’s death, but it does hinder them from using any combat techniques, specifically ones that require chakra to use.

As for the pulses of the chakra seed? That’s strictly to nourish the body of a martial artist. It’s not meant for use in combat. Besides, the chakra seed won’t release a nourishing pulse if the martial artist themselves doesn’t go into motion. If there’s no motion, there’s no chakra; if there’s no chakra, then there’s no nourishing pulse.

At the Muscle Forging Stage, though. When one’s chakra seed sprouts roots that connect to every channel of the human body and grows young stems that absorb and covert chakra at a much better rate, there will be some improvements.

The root network of the chakra seed could not directly deliver and infuse chakra to the practitioner’s muscles, where it stays for longer, preventing a speedy decay.

That’s not its only use, though. The more important factor is that direct chakra infusion to the practitioner’s muscles cleanses them of impurities.

All the dirt, gunk, and impure air that had lodged deep into the bones and tendons of the practitioner will be pushed out by chakra, causing a great discharge.

It’s disgusting, yes, but anybody you ask would choose to experience this because of the benefits that come afterwards.

Purifying one’s muscles and tendons not only strengthens the practitioner, but it also elevates their physique to an incredible level.

Foundation Strength practitioners could already be compared to the peak athletes who trained their whole lives back on Earth, but that’s only the starting point here.

The more thorough the cleansing is, the better the results will be. This also delays muscle deterioration, which also slows down aging itself.

No, slowing down again doesn’t mean prolonging lifespan. It’s a common misconception about this world’s martial arts.

Martial arts here doesn’t allow one to become immortal. The best it could do is to slow down aging.

The ’Golden Years of Martial Practice’ refers to ages 16 to 35. During this age range, one’s youth is resplendent and their practice will see a relatively swift and stable progress.

It peaks at age 25 and slows down until the age of 35; after 35, it slows down even more after every decade that passes.

The ’aging’ of a martial artist refers to the passing of their golden years. And ’slowing down aging’ meant slowing down the deterioration of a martial artist’s golden years of martial practice.

That way, even though some of them eventually reach the age of 35 and above, it wouldn’t necessarily mean that their golden age of practice is over. It could be extended by achieving progress in martial arts and working hard to go above and beyond.

Also, as a side effect of this delay, the practitioner’s ’youthful glow’ also slows down its deterioration, making them look younger and more vibrant even at their advanced age.

The story didn’t really go into much detail about the ratio of the delay. At least, Ren doesn’t remember anything related to it. All he knows is that the faster and more thorough his progress was in his practice, the slower his golden years of martial practice pass by.

And since he’s pursuing a perfect breakthrough each time and building the most stable and solid martial foundation, the speed of his years’ passing will be ever slower than most.

**

After his joyful breakthrough yesterday morning, Ren took the rest of the day off.

He relaxed and didn’t do much. Instead, he allowed his body to naturally adjust to the new sensations his breakthrough brought to him. He also began to familiarize himself with how his limbs could now store some chakra as well, which further delays its deterioration.

Ren noticed that after the disgusting impurity discharge he experienced, his appearance had some improvements. He grew a little bit taller, going from 5’7 to 5’8 tall. His body became leaner, and his skin was clearer, shinier, and smoother too.

His muscles coiled tightly around his bones, capable of bearing more pressure and releasing more strength. His arms and legs became bulkier and more defined—a result of his developing bias to unarmed combat.

After his breakthrough, the stacked bonuses his martial physique gave him had once again taken effect.

His Banished Arsenal Martial Physique adds 30% to his physical gains every breakthrough in exchange for banning him from using weapons. And then, his Limitless Martial Physique doubles that and every beneficial gain he’d have on top of that. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Where base muscle-forging stats, at its peak, will only have the following:

Punch Force: 1.5 – 3 tons

Lifting Strength: 2 – 5 tons

Sprint Speed: 14 – 18 m/s

Reaction Time: 90 – 130 ms

Endurance: High-output activity for 1–2 hours straight

Ren could go much higher than this. His punch force could go up to 7 to 8 tons, and he’d be able to lift anything between 12 and 13 tons, and so on...

With how broken his bonuses were, Ren could easily defeat a Bone Forging Stage Martial Artist when he reached the peak of Muscle Forging, because his stats by then were only slightly lower compared to the peak of Bone Forging stats.

Assuming that his bone-forging opponent only has a common-grade martial physique, that is.

The higher Ren climbs, the more advantages he stacks. At some point, he’d be able to fight opponents at least two to three realms higher than him. Even though he might not be able to defeat them, running away shouldn’t be a problem.

But again, raw stats weren’t the sole pursuit here. The numbers will come as he goes; what’s more important is building a solid foundation, making sure that each breakthrough is neat, clean, and perfect.

Ren could afford a day off right now since his body needs it, and he deserved it. Considering that it only took him a month to step into the Muscle Forging Stage, it shows that he definitely worked hard enough. So much so that he even made a perfect breakthrough.

Nobody in their right mind would scold him for taking it easy for a day, especially not with results like this.

Of course, Ren wasn’t about to use this as an excuse to slack off moving forward. If anything, the grind from here on out becomes even more difficult.

Just because his chakra seed had now taken root in his body, it doesn’t automatically mean that every single inch of muscle and tendons had been cleansed of impurities and could now store chakra.

If that’s the case, then he would’ve been sent straight to the peak of the Muscle Forging Stage right away.

Right now, only a tiny portion of his limb muscles had been cleansed and could now store chakra. Although that’s good, it’s not enough.

From here on out, Ren would have to continue dredging his muscles with chakra each day, and to do that, he needs to convert more chakra and exert more movement.

He needs to hit more. He needs to push his body to exhaustion to force his chakra into every single grain of his muscles. He needs to be thorough; he can’t miss a spot or else it’ll prevent him from pursuing a perfect breakthrough.

Because of this, Ren requires more. The martial arts he learned so far won’t cut it anymore.

Stepping into the Muscle Forging Stage means that he’s no longer a beginner. He’s still not an expert, not by a long shot, but at the very least, he’s no noob anymore.

His beginner-friendly martial arts, while effective previously, aren’t sufficient anymore. They’ve served their purpose. They taught him the knowledge he’s meant to know and instilled a preliminary martial instinct and intuition in him.

That’s as far as they go.

What Ren needs now were techniques that not only amplifies his incredible strength, but also hones his skill and his body.

And for this, Ren must settle the issue of breathing techniques soon.

Talking about this, of course he cannot escape the inevitable, which is the clan’s unique martial inheritance.

Now that Ren had made it this far, it’s now his turn to learn that art. The same one that caused a lot of pain, dread, and despair to not only the targets but also the practitioner. The very same combat art Ren often saw being practiced by his clanmates.

Everyone in the Banished Arms Clan had a shared love and hate for this technique.

And this technique is called: ’Pain Demon Art.’