Training actually makes the days go by quickly. Before David realized, it was Saturday morning and he was up extra early to get ready for breakfast at the Carmine's estate. After a quick shit, shave and shower....David was on the driving on the road to the have breakfast with Karine's family....yes, even her sister, Sonia, and dad, William, were going to be there.

While David had met Mr. Carmine several times before, this breakfast was going to be his first real social call to the Carmine house since he had become an official suitor for Karine. As it was explained to David, a suitor is someone who is dating a woman with the idea that marriage is possible. It was a little more serious than just dating and a little less serious than being engaged. In the olden days, prominent women would have many suitors who tried to win their fancy. If the woman obliged, then they would go on dates together. The Carmine family seemed to partially follow those old traditions. It was taking some getting used to on David's part. He was more accustomed to the typical modern dating life.

Driving in his beat up truck, David was left wondering how the breakfast date would go this morning. The past couple of weeks with Karine had been great. Although she seemed to be a bit old fashioned in regards to relationships, they had a few great nights out together in Three Rivers City over the last couple of weeks.

It wasn't long before David pulled up at the Carmine Estate, the guards at the gate seemed to recognize the pickup truck right away and waved David into the long driveway. Pulling up near the house, David parked in the employee parking area off to the side of the house before walking around to the front door.

"Mr. Knox, everyone is waiting for you in the dining room. Breakfast should be served shortly," one of the door attendants said as David entered.

Quickly realizing that he had no idea where the dining room was located, he asked one of the door attendants if they could lead the way.

After a brisk two minute walk, the attendant brought David to a very large dining room. Mr. Carmine, Karine and Sonia were all sitting at one end of the big table. Everyone stared at David as he came into the room.

"Glad you could join us for breakfast David," Mr. Carmine said as the party rose in greeting as David approached the table, "Please have a seat."

David sat down. The usual breakfast small talk commenced between the group of four. David was left wondering when the food was going to be brought out. He was hungry. Sure enough, his thoughts seemed to bring about action and four servers walked out of the back with trays of food. David couldn't keep himself from being slightly amazed while thinking to himself, "So this is how rich people eat breakfast". It was such a large contrast from his family eating at a little table in the kitchen of his parents' home.

Regardless, David proceeded to stuff himself on the fancy breakfast foods that were brought out by the servers. He got to have things he had never really eaten before: crepes, quiche, some crazy salad with nuts and a fried egg, pancakes that seemed to have apple pieces baked inside, frittata...it was all over the top.....but tasted wonderful.

The Carmine family seemed to just be snacking here and there on their dishes. David gorged himself like he was at a buffet. Overall, David felt that the breakfast was a success. They had great conversation and the food was wonderful. What more could you want from a family breakfast?

———————————————

After finishing up the breakfast, David left the Carmine Estate in a great mood. His day was going well and he felt great. Once he got back to his apartment, he realized that is was only around 11:00 AM. He had an entire day ahead of him.

Since he had gotten the three body training guides from Mr. Lester earlier this week, he hadn't really had a chance to sit and read though them.

Plopping the three books down in front of him on his bed, David decided to glance at the introductions to each book first. The three books titled after the body cultivation methods called Body of Strength, Body of Recovery and Body of Defense.All three covered the basis of strengthening the body in a balanced manner; however, each method offered a specialty focused on enhancing the muscles, bones, skin and organs of the cultivator. After reading a bit, David realized that all three body cultivation methods were very, very similar. The difference in the method focused on one of the skills of the Body specialty. Like every other specialty, the Body specialty involved 6 skills: Strength, Defense, Recovery, Speed, Endurance, and Agility.

Someone from the Body specialty would train in all six skills at foundation stage in order to attempt becoming a Demigod. People that managed to pull off Demigod level in Body specialty were absolute monsters on the battlefield. These guys were practically indestructible against people at the same level in other specialties.

David didn't have any urge to pursue the full array of Body specialty skills. For someone, like him, not focusing on the body specialty, they would typically train in one or two of the Body skills as a support skill in an attempt to strengthen themselves for battle. If an elemental practitioners body was extremely weak, then the chances of them dying in battle increased greatly.

Mr. Lester had picked three of the six Body skills for David to chose from for his own training. David had read the three introductions in the books that described training methods. He had a good grasp of what was required with each method and the benefits that each method offered.

Body of Strength was a body cultivation method that focused on strengthening the muscles, bones, skin and organs. A practitioner of this skill would be able to have strength that exceeded someone at the same level by 6 times. In a head-to-head battle with someone of the same level, a single punch could mean victory for someone that practiced this skill.

Body of Recovery was a body cultivation method that focused on developing a body that can heal from injuries rapidly. A practitioner of this skill would be able to focus their heavenly energy to recover quickly from damage sustained on the battle field. The book introduction said that this could help a practitioner survive multiple injuries on a battlefield and even recover from the injuries without medical assistance. If perfected, the recovery would happen automatically...the user wouldn't even need to focus.

Body of Defense was a body cultivation method that focused on hardening the muscles, bones, skin and organs. A practitioner of this skill could resist strikes from weapons directly with their body. These guys were tanks. People who specialized in Body of Defense would often be used to protect important dignitaries as body guards or lead the way in a charge against enemies.

After thoroughly reviewing each method, David made his decision.

It actually wasn't that hard of a decision. Since David had been introduced to this new world, he had almost died several times due to injury. With those experiences behind him, he felt that the Body of Recovery was an appropriate choice for him. He didn't know when he would be randomly injured again.

David quietly sat there in his room by himself.....studying the Body of Recovery skill book. Essentially, the Body of Recovery skill involved meditating on injuries with a focused intent to heal them. The first example in the book was to place a small shallow cut, about the level of a paper cut, at the tip of the pointer finger on the left hand. Then the skill user was to focus their intent on the small injury and concentrate on healing the injury. The sustained focus of heavenly energy should allow the injury to heal quicker than normal.

Reading through the book again, David realized that this was still only the first step at mastering the skill. The final level of the skill was that the heavenly energy in the body would concentrate on any injuries automatically. If he mastered the skill, he wouldn't need to focus on dealing with any injury. It would just heal itself over time at a rate faster than normal.

David proceeded to cut his finger and stare at it while trying to focus on healing and willing his little bit of heavenly energy into his fingertip. He performed this exercise for the remainder of the day. Once nighttime came around, he felt like a complete fool. He had cut himself and basically stared at his bleeding finger for hours. Nothing healed.

David was somewhat disappointed by his lack of success, but he decided to keep on trying. He knew that failure was normal. The skill book said so. Sitting on the floor staring at his bleeding finger, David couldn't help but bust out laughing.

If he told any of his old friends back home that he cut his finger on purpose and tried to mentally heal himself.....they would think he was a complete lunatic.

With that thought, David started to reflect on the changes to his life. About 6 months ago, he was a single man who pretty much just worked and slept. Today, he had went on a date with his smoking hot girlfriend at her family's multi-million dollar mansion. He had then came home to his apartment and spent hours trying to practice an cultivation technique that could make his body superhuman.

When considering how much everything had changed, David thought it was very unbelievable...and that this was his new normal life.