Dan stood before the water's surface, looking at his reflection.
Thirty-nine years old.
He was no longer a young man.
White strands of gray had begun to appear in his long hair that covered his back, streaking the black with silver threads. Faint wrinkles appeared around his eyes, traces of the years and the harsh training.
But his body was in its best condition.
His back was straight, his shoulders were broad, and his muscles were balanced and solid without being bulky. His skin was healthy and tight, the result of years of refining the body through constant training. Dan was like a man in his prime now, even though time had begun to leave its marks.
He looked at the gray in his hair and touched the wrinkles around his eyes. He felt something strange in his chest. It wasn't exactly fear, but an urgency, a necessity. He knew that time was not on his side.
So, he maintained his routine of harsh and difficult training. Every day, the same schedule, the same discipline. Morning physical drills, mountain climbing, diving into the depths for underwater training, and refining chakra at night. And constant experiments with seals.
Recently, he had reached a depth of 170 meters in his underwater training. The pressure was immense, but he adapted to it. His physical strength reached a level he had never imagined before. He could hold his breath for thirty minutes even at this level and move with speed and power despite the water's huge resistance.
But despite all this improvement, Dan knew a harsh truth. As time progressed, he would eventually leave his peak period. The human body has limits. Even with the most intense training, and even with the best care, aging is inevitable. The strength he built with difficulty over the years would begin to decline. Slowly at first, then more rapidly with age. His muscles would weaken, his bones would become more fragile, and his endurance would drop.
This was his nightmare. Dan did not want to feel that his current strength, which he built with all this effort, sweat, and pain, was failing him and wasting away. He did not want to become weak, helpless, and vulnerable to death. Therefore, he felt an overwhelming urgency that he must hurry.
Dan spent a long time experimenting on animals. Months of tests, adjustments, and improvements to the seal. He tried different formulas, different ways to apply it, and different positions on the bones.
Some experiments succeeded wonderfully. The animals became stronger, more vital, and their body organs gained strength, which prolonged their lives further. But some failed. Animals died, or weakened, or faced serious health problems. But Dan did not stop; he learned from every experiment, recorded every result, and understood the problem more.
Finally, after months of painstaking work, he succeeded in mastering the appropriate formula. A stable, safe, and effective seal. He called it the "Vitality Seal."
The seal worked exactly the way he had planned. It seals the chakra in the bones in a light way. If Dan wanted to compare it, it would be like the healing technique that would appear in the future, but it is more directed toward nourishment and is continuous because of its lightness, so it requires a superhuman level of chakra control. It is directed to feed the bone marrow, which in turn secretes blood saturated with chakra.
This blood spreads in the body, nourishes every cell, strengthens the heart, and improves the organs. The result was a stronger body, more resilient, and slower to age. It was his first step toward immortality.
Dan decided that the time had come. He had prepared everything. He understood the seal completely, mastered its application, and ensured its safety. There was no longer a reason for delay.
But he decided to be cautious. He would not apply the Vitality Seal to all his bones at once. That was too dangerous. If something went wrong, he might die or suffer irreparable damage. Instead, he would start with his left hand only.
He would apply the seal to the bones of his left hand, monitor the results, and ensure that everything was working correctly. If it succeeded, and if there were no problems, he would continue. He would apply the seal to his entire left arm, then to the other limb, then to the legs, then to the spine and the rib cage.
Dan sat in his hut, on his mat, in the middle of the night, feeling hope fill his chest. He was on the right track. Soon, he would apply the seal. And then, he wouldn't have to fear aging, losing his strength, or weakness. He would become stronger, live longer, and get closer to his dream.
Immortality.
"Step by step," he whispered to himself, "I will reach my goal."
"No matter how long it takes."