*Content Warning: This chapter contains mature themes, violence, blood, and morally dark actions. Reader discretion advised.*
The wild beast bolted as soon as Leon moved.
He did not draw on any abilities. No aura, no borrowed godlike speed—only his battered legs and a hunter's patience. He watched the creature's stride, counted the rhythm of its hooves, then angled his path to cut it off.
"Panicked things always turn left," he muttered.
When the beast swerved, it found Leon already there. He scooped up a fallen branch as thick as his arm and swung it like a club. The wood cracked against the side of the animal's skull. It tumbled, rolled twice, and lay still.
"One."
The noise sent other creatures fleeing from the underbrush—deer‑like shapes, a tusked boar, lean wolf‑beasts with glowing eyes. Instead of charging blindly, Leon stepped back, letting them scatter.
"Running in fear wastes strength," he said to himself. "But fear makes prey predictable."
He picked his targets.
For the boar, he waited beside a tree, pressing his back to the bark. When it thundered past, he slammed his shoulder into its flank, using its own momentum to topple it. Before it could rise, he drove the sharpened end of the broken branch into its throat.
"Two."
The wolf‑beasts circled warily. Leon tore a strip of meat from the first carcass and tossed it aside. One of the wolves lunged for the distraction. Leon kicked a loose stone into its foreleg; the beast stumbled, balance broken. He stepped in, twisted its neck with both hands, and let it drop.
"Three."
The remaining wolves backed away, snarling. Leon grabbed another rock, feinted a throw to the left, then actually hurled it right. The slower one took the stone to the jaw and reeled. Leon closed the distance in three strides, using his weight to drive its head into a tree trunk.
"Four."
The last animal, a skittish deer‑type with sharp hooves, tried to leap a fallen log. Leon had already rolled a smaller trunk into its path. Its front legs clipped the hidden obstacle; it crashed headfirst into the ground. Before it could scramble up, Leon pinned its neck with his knee and twisted.
"Five."
He stood in the quiet that followed, chest rising and falling, hands slick with blood and dirt.
"No abilities," Leon said softly. "Just timing, angles, and a bit of cheating."
He tied the limp bodies together with braided vines and started dragging them back toward the tree where he had slept for six days, a faint, tired smile tugging at his lips.
"Now that I have food," he said, unable to hold back a small laugh, "I can train endlessly. Hehe."
***
He dragged his catches back to the tree where he had slept for six days. The bark still bore the dark stain of his blood and the faint mark of where his head had rested.
"This spot again, huh?" he muttered.
Working with practiced movements, Leon skinned and cleaned the beasts. The smell of raw flesh filled the air, quickly replaced by the sharp crackle of fire as he gathered dry branches and sparked a flame. Soon, strips of meat sizzled over the makeshift grill, fat dripping into the fire and sending up thin trails of smoke.
Leon watched them cook, eyes half‑lidded. "Well, it's not exactly imperial cuisine," he said, turning a skewer, "but I can at least make something decent. If it doesn't kill me, that means I did a good job."
He took the first bite and closed his eyes. It was rough, smoky, and far too salty in places, but it was warm.
Warmth meant life.
After finishing his meal, he leaned back against the familiar tree and stared up through the leaves. "I wonder what all the empires are planning now," he murmured. "They must be losing their minds after that battlefield."
His thoughts shifted, drawn to a different figure.
"And I really want to learn that skill Master uses," Leon said, voice tinged with awe. "The one that opens a portal out of nowhere. Just… space tearing apart like it's nothing. How amazing. Just who in the world are you, Master, to be that strong?"
Silence answered him.
Leon exhaled slowly, expression hardening. "Fine. Master's not here. That means it's on me."
He flexed his fingers. Most of the trembling was gone.
"Now that I'm done with the food, my injuries are mostly healed. It's time to decide a training routine for myself."
He sat beneath the tree for nearly an hour, planning in silence, tracing patterns in the dirt with a stick. His gaze grew colder with each line he drew.
At last he stood.
"Now then," Leon said, voice steady, "I have to make my training extremely difficult."
A grin tugged at his lips, somewhere between madness and determination.
"If my body can copy anything," he whispered, "then I'll force it to copy suffering itself."
Leon realized a harsh truth:
> A physique that mimics limits will never grow unless it is pushed beyond every limit it knows.
So he forged a training that struck at muscle, endurance, balance, breathing, and adaptation all at once.
***
Dawn: Gravity Body Forging
Leon drew his aura inward, compressing it around his body like an invisible weight. Every movement suddenly felt heavier, as if the world had thickened.
"Let's see how much you can endure," he told himself.
He dropped to the ground.
1,000 push‑ups.
Every hundred, he slowed down deliberately, lowering his chest toward the earth until his arms shook. If his form broke, he forced himself to restart that set.
"Pain is just the body begging for mercy," he growled through clenched teeth. "I don't remember ever promising to listen."
Next came 1,000 squats.
Each one was deep and controlled. No bouncing, no momentum, no shortcuts. His thighs burned as if someone had poured molten lead into his muscles.
"If my legs give out," Leon panted, "then I deserve to crawl."
Then 500 sit‑ups.
Slow contractions, holding the tension for several breaths at the top. His stomach felt like it was being stabbed from the inside out.
"The numbers don't matter," he reminded himself between gasps. "What matters… is forcing this body to adapt under pressure, not speed."
By the time dawn fully broke, sweat and blood mixed on the ground beneath him.
***
### Midday: Continuous Motion Trial
Leon forbade himself from stopping.
He cycled through a merciless loop:
- 100 push‑ups
- 100 squats
- 50 sit‑ups
- 1,000 steps of footwork
Again.
And again.
And again.
The sun crawled across the sky as he moved, body screaming, vision flickering. Yet somewhere in that endless repetition, something shifted. His breathing gradually smoothed out. His steps became sharper, lighter, more precise.
The Limitless Mimic Physique began to learn:
How to conserve energy.
How to move with muscle efficiency.
How to find a natural rhythm even in torment.
"See?" Leon rasped, stumbling into another set. "Suffer long enough… and the body finally understands you're not joking."
***
Core of Steel Discipline
As the light turned golden, Leon focused on the center of his strength.
"If the core fails," he said, "everything fails."
He dropped into a plank.
Ten minutes.
Five minutes rest.
Repeat five times.
His arms trembled. Sweat dripped from his jaw onto the dirt. Every second felt longer than the last.
"Shake… but don't fall," he muttered. "You're not allowed to collapse."
Next, he slid into a static squat hold.
Minutes crawled by. His thighs screamed. At some point, his legs went numb and then came back to life, burning even hotter.
"Thirty minutes," Leon hissed through his teeth. "If my legs break, I'll just rebuild them stronger."
Finally, hanging leg raises—three hundred repetitions. His abdomen tightened like coiled iron, each lift sending knives of pain through his torso.
He refused to use any cultivation skills or mystical reinforcement. No shortcuts. Only raw flesh against impossible demands.
This stage forced his physique to reinforce tendons and joints, to stabilize from deep inside, to adapt under relentless tension.
***
Breath–Body Synchronization
When his muscles threatened to seize, Leon shifted focus to his breathing.
"For every push‑up," he said quietly, "inhale for four counts, hold for two, exhale for six."
He followed that pattern with every movement. The slow inhale made his chest feel heavier. The longer exhale turned each rep into a battle.
"This is suffering," Leon thought, muscles shaking. "Not the kind that comes from an enemy's blade… but the kind you choose yourself."
The Limitless Mimic Physique listened.
It began copying advanced breathing methods, learning how to use oxygen efficiently, how to let energy flow smoothly even through pain.
***
Night: Collapse‑Resistance Training
Darkness fell.
For most people, this would be the time to sleep.
Leon moved back into position.
"Real monsters," he murmured, "train when every part of them is begging to stop."
He forced himself through:
- 300 push‑ups
- 300 squats
- 200 sit‑ups
His body trembled violently. Muscles spasmed, threatening to shut down.
Every time the shaking got worse, he slowed his movements instead of stopping completely.
"This is it," Leon thought, feeling something deep inside his physique strain and twist. "This is where you evolve—not by being strong, but by refusing to quit when you're already broken."
***
Silent Recovery (Evolution Phase)
At last, long after the moon had risen, Leon sat down beneath the same blood‑stained tree.
No healing techniques.
No medicine.
No shortcuts.
He simply breathed and stayed still.
The Limitless Mimic Physique went to work in the quiet:
Repairing torn muscle fibers.
Reinforcing bone.
Optimizing the patterns of every movement he had drilled.
Little by little, his posture straightened. His breathing deepened. His muscles felt denser, heavier with real strength instead of borrowed power. His reactions sharpened, as if the world around him had slowed.
Leon opened his eyes, exhaustion and a strange exhilaration burning together.
"Suffering," he whispered, flexing his sore hands, "really is the best teacher."
He smiled faintly.
"And I plan to be its favorite student."
***
**Author's Note:**
If you reached this point, you're a real one.
How did Leon's self‑designed hell training feel to you—crazy, inspiring, or both? Would you survive even the dawn part of his routine? Drop a comment (even an emoji) and tell what you think about the way he uses the Limitless Mimic Physique here. Your feedback helps shape how his growth and future battles will look.
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