The Body-Forging Fist was primarily used to temper the body and strengthen one's foundation. It was supposedly a modified version of the Navy's martial arts, suggesting that the old dojo master might have been a Marine for a few years.
Moreover, since it was called the Fierce Tiger Dojo, this fist technique had a special tiger bone balm to assist in training, which could increase the speed of physical cultivation. Without Bellamy even needing to ask, Mani proactively brought out the balm.
After carefully reading through the fist technique several times, without any hesitation, Bellamy stripped off all his clothes. "Help me apply the balm."
"Ah, yes!" Mani hadn't expected him to act so quickly, stripping naked in a few moments.
The girl blushed, not daring to look directly at his body, and fumbled with the balm as she began to apply it.
After a long while, when Bellamy's entire body, including the soles of his feet, was coated with the special balm, a burning sensation began to surge across his skin.
Bellamy knew this meant the balm's medicinal properties were taking effect. He quickly closed his eyes and, following the method described in the fist manual, slowly began to practice the forms.
The Body-Forging Fist truly deserved its reputation as a complete fist technique. After just a few rounds, Bellamy felt his entire body begin to heat up, and the blood flow within his body gradually accelerated. Compared to ordinary exercise, practicing the fist technique was clearly more direct and effective.
After the initial training session, Bellamy asked Mani for more detailed information about the fist technique. However, after a conversation, Bellamy was greatly disappointed.
It turned out that one bottle of balm was only enough for five full-body applications at most. And the dojo's stock of the balm had long been used up; that was the last bottle. Otherwise, the dojo wouldn't have declined so rapidly.
To make this balm, they needed the bones of a tiger, preferably from a freshly killed tiger with a large amount of blood essence remaining in its body. But the tigers near Neon Town had long been hunted to extinction by the former Body-Forging Dojo in various ways. Without the materials, the balm ran out, the fist technique training slowed, and the dojo gradually declined.
"So that's the cause of it all." Bellamy shook his head in disappointment.
Mani had been secretly observing his expression. When she saw the disappointment on his face, she immediately guessed what he was thinking.
"Actually, if you go deep into the island's mountains, you can still find tigers."
"Grandpa once hired some hunters to search in the mountains." Mani quickly ran into the inner room and brought out a crudely drawn map.
"Deep into the mountains?" Looking at the map, Bellamy pondered.
His injuries had already healed, so the matter of the tiger bones could wait. He planned to deal with the band of mountain bandits first. Those bandits weren't good people, and leaving them unchecked could easily lead to trouble. This was one of the messes left behind by the Hyena, and since today was as good a day as any, he'd take care of them now.
Bellamy wasn't one to hesitate. Once he made a decision, he acted immediately. He planned to go alone this time. As a Spring-Spring Fruit user, he didn't consider a mere band of mountain bandits a threat.
He prepared the necessary supplies for his adventure, changed into a set of durable clothes, put on brand-new leather boots, and stepped out, full of energy.
"This time, I'm no longer who I was." Thinking of those hateful mountain bandits, Bellamy raised his hand and touched his forehead.
The new, centipede-like scar on his forehead still had a hint of pink. This scar was left by the bandit leader, and it had pained him to no end when Muret stitched it up last night.
At Bellamy's original walking speed, it would take about half a day, or roughly eight hours, to walk from Neon Town to the mountains. After becoming the Spring-Spring Man, his body naturally possessed the characteristics of a spring.
What were the characteristics of a spring? Or rather, what is a spring?
A spring: an object made of elastic material that deforms under external force and returns to its original shape when the force is removed.
A deeper analysis of this object: force, deformation, rebound, recovery.
The magnitude of the spring force fundamentally depends on the material of the elastic material itself, and how much force it can withstand. The force applied, combined with the torsional force generated by the deformation, will burst out at the moment of rebound.
This was the working principle of a spring.
Based on his understanding of the principle of the spring, Bellamy began to try to apply the easiest aspects to develop – force application and rebound – to the simplest area, such as walking.
It was morning, and the streets were mostly filled with pedestrians. Bellamy completely ignored the strange looks from the passersby and began to walk down the street in an extremely awkward and peculiar manner.
The way he walked made it look like he had stepped on a nail, cautiously placing his foot down and contracting all his muscles as he lifted it. Passersby thought he had a limp.
Before long, people started pointing at him. But Bellamy seemed to hear nothing, still limping along in this strange, slightly exaggerated gait, walking his own way.
After the initial awkwardness, Bellamy quickly became familiar with this way of walking using elastic force. As the Spring-Spring Man, using and controlling elastic force was as simple as breathing.
As time passed, the strange movements slowly began to normalize.