Chapter 149 The Guidance of Perfect Body

Joe began examining his previous transformations the following morning. He had reached 92.08%, but the remaining mortal structures included several regions he could not approach through his existing methods. Medicine Perfection allowed him to understand their functions, yet he still lacked a reliable way to determine their final arrangement after transformation.

The records from his recent cultivation presented a possible answer. Several completed tissues had undergone small adjustments during recovery, settling into arrangements more efficient than those he had originally planned. Joe had encountered similar improvements throughout his cultivation, but he could now examine them with considerably greater precision. He selected a transformed region near his shoulder and compared its present condition with the measurements recorded immediately after conversion. The surrounding vessels and supporting tissues had changed slightly during the settling period. Their positions now accommodated the strengthened muscle more effectively, allowing force and circulation to pass through the region with less resistance.

The original transformation had succeeded before those refinements occurred. Joe had established the necessary connections, converted the tissue with Acquired Energy, and confirmed that the region functioned properly. The subsequent adjustments had taken place without further direction from him. He examined two additional regions and found similar results. Each had developed according to his cultivation method before settling into a more efficient arrangement. The improvements varied according to the functions involved, but they consistently strengthened the integration between transformed structures.

Joe understood where they came from. Perfect Body had influenced his cultivation since childhood. His Foundation had benefited from its effects, and every successful tempering had left his body unusually balanced. He had always accepted those improvements, concentrating on advancing his cultivation rather than examining how the talent produced them.

Medicine Perfection changed what he could observe. His understanding of living structures had become sufficient to recognize adjustments that previously escaped his attention.

Joe spent the afternoon examining the completed regions before selecting a small portion of connective tissue for further cultivation. Its surrounding structures had already undergone transformation, and he understood their functions well enough to proceed without substantial uncertainty. He prepared the region according to his established method and directed Acquired Energy into the remaining mortal tissue. The conversion succeeded, but Joe did not immediately continue into the adjoining structures. He maintained his awareness of the completed region and observed how it responded as the energy settled.

Small adjustments began appearing along the connections to neighboring tissues. Their positions shifted within the limits established by the transformation, improving the way the new structure distributed force. Joe followed those changes through Acquired Energy until they stabilized. His original method had produced a functional structure. Perfect Body had refined its integration afterward.

The following morning, Joe examined the region again and compared its condition with the arrangement he had initially intended. The result suggested that his calculations had imposed unnecessary restrictions on the final structure. He had attempted to reproduce the mortal arrangement with greater strength, while Perfect Body had adjusted the connections to suit the transformed tissue.

Joe considered how to incorporate that refinement into his cultivation. He could not simply surrender control and expect Perfect Body to perform the transformation. The talent optimized genuine physical improvements, but it did not supply missing knowledge or correct an unsuitable cultivation method. He still needed to establish stable conditions, direct the conversion, and ensure that the surrounding systems could support the change. However, he no longer needed to prescribe every detail of the final arrangement.

Joe selected another small region with similar supporting connections. This time, he prepared the functions that needed to remain stable without attempting to fix every connection in its original position. He completed the transformation in stages, allowing the converted tissue to settle before extending the process into neighboring structures.

The result improved upon his previous attempt. The transformed region integrated smoothly with its surroundings, and Perfect Body's adjustments appeared earlier in the settling process. Joe recognized their direction and modified his subsequent cultivation accordingly. He avoided several corrections that his original method would have required, reducing the Acquired Energy spent maintaining an arrangement his body would eventually refine.

He repeated the experiment over the following two days. The results remained consistent wherever he possessed enough anatomical knowledge to establish a reliable transformation. Perfect Body did not replace that knowledge, but its refinements showed him how a successful conversion could develop beyond his original design.

Joe returned to the delicate neural pathway he had postponed at the end of his previous research. The pathway controlled a small region of his forearm and hand. Its surrounding muscles, vessels, and supporting tissues had already undergone substantial transformation, but the nerve itself remained partly mortal. Joe understood its functions and could trace its connections, although his earlier calculations had produced several possible arrangements without establishing which would integrate best. He began with the portion nearest the transformed tissues.

Rather than attempt to convert the entire pathway, Joe prepared a short section and maintained the functions of its surrounding connections. He directed Acquired Energy into the selected tissue, carefully observing its response while the conversion proceeded.

The transformed section settled into the neighboring structures without disrupting their coordination. Perfect Body refined several connections during the following period of integration, producing an arrangement that differed slightly from Joe's original calculations. He examined the result before continuing.

The pathway still performed its function, and the surrounding muscles responded properly. Joe extended the transformation through another small section, using the previous result to guide his preparation.

The second conversion proceeded more smoothly. By evening, he had completed a portion of the pathway that he had previously considered too uncertain to approach. He allowed the changes to settle overnight before testing the result through controlled movement.

Joe extended his hand and moved his fingers individually, paying attention to the coordination between intention and movement. The transformed pathway responded without difficulty. His control had improved slightly, although most of his nervous system remained unchanged. He continued examining the region until he was satisfied that its functions had remained stable.

The panel now showed a little over 93%. Joe spent the following days extending the method into related structures. Each successful transformation gave him another example of how Perfect Body refined the converted tissue, allowing him to prepare subsequent regions with greater confidence.

The work remained demanding. Nervous structures required more careful attention than ordinary muscle or connective tissue, and he could not afford to proceed when the surrounding functions remained uncertain. He therefore concentrated on pathways whose connections he could examine reliably, leaving the most complicated central structures untouched. His growing understanding also changed how he approached the rest of his body.

Until now, Joe had generally treated the mortal body's arrangement as the foundation for every transformation. He strengthened existing tissues, prepared their supporting connections, and allowed the converted structures to assume approximately the same positions and functions.

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Perfect Body's refinements demonstrated that the original arrangement was not always the most suitable one. His transformed muscles could exert forces that mortal supporting tissues had never needed to accommodate. Their circulation and nervous control also operated under different demands. Reproducing the original arrangement without adjustment could preserve limitations that no longer served a purpose.

Joe began designing his subsequent transformations according to the requirements of the completed body rather than the proportions of its mortal predecessor. He did not intend to create unfamiliar organs or alter his body beyond its established functions. His goal was to improve how the existing systems worked together. He examined the connections between several transformed muscles and their supporting tissues, adjusting the next conversions to accommodate the increased force they could produce. In regions where circulation had become more demanding, he prepared surrounding vessels and supporting structures before transforming the remaining tissue.

Perfect Body continued refining those improvements during integration. Joe studied the results and incorporated what he learned into subsequent sessions. The process required considerable attention, but the improvement in efficiency became apparent after several successful transformations. Regions that had previously demanded extensive corrections now settled more naturally because Joe no longer forced them toward arrangements that suited the mortal body better than the transformed one.

He turned his attention toward the marrow. Several portions remained mortal despite the surrounding bones having undergone transformation. Their functions were closely connected to circulation and the maintenance of the body's internal condition, making them more complicated than the supporting tissues he had recently completed.

Joe selected a region whose surrounding structures were already stable. He prepared its circulation and supporting connections before beginning the conversion, then advanced gradually while observing how the transformed tissue integrated with the bone and neighboring systems. The first session produced limited progress. Joe stopped when he reached a connection whose response remained uncertain, allowing the completed region to settle before continuing.

The following day, Perfect Body's refinements gave him a clearer understanding of how the transformed marrow could integrate with its surroundings. Joe adjusted his preparation and resumed cultivation, extending the conversion through several connected regions without disturbing their established functions. He continued over successive sessions, alternating nervous pathways, marrow, and other remaining tissues according to which structures he could safely prepare. His progress accelerated once the methods became reliable.

Innate Transformation — 95.67%

Joe examined the completed regions after reaching the new threshold. Several portions of the nervous system and marrow that had previously resisted him now functioned alongside the surrounding Innate tissues. Their integration was more efficient than anything he could have achieved by reproducing the original mortal arrangement without adjustment.

The improvement became noticeable during his martial training.

Joe had continued practicing throughout the expedition, using the courtyard and uneven ground surrounding the camp to maintain his spear and movement inheritances. The exercises also allowed him to examine how his changing body responded under demanding conditions.

That afternoon, he practiced Unbroken Step along a narrow stretch of ground behind the station. He began with familiar directional changes before introducing sharper reversals and shortened steps that forced him to adjust his balance during movement. His transformed nervous pathways responded with greater precision than before. The interval between deciding upon a movement and completing the necessary adjustment had become more consistent, particularly when his hands and feet needed to coordinate during rapid changes of direction.

Joe repeated several difficult transitions, comparing the results with his earlier practice. His improved body allowed him to execute the movements more cleanly, but the inheritance still demanded correct judgment. Choosing an unsuitable position remained an error regardless of how efficiently he reached it. He returned to the courtyard and took up his spear.

Ninefold had already reached Perfection, but its principles still provided opportunities to examine his changing physical condition. Joe worked through attacks that required precise coordination between his grip, stance, and recovery, deliberately changing the intended movement before its completion.

The transformed structures responded smoothly. His spear carried the intended force without requiring several of the minor adjustments he had previously made through experience. He continued practicing until he understood the changes well enough to account for them. His improved constitution had strengthened the execution of his techniques, although it had not supplied new combat judgment or removed the need to maintain his training.

Joe resumed Innate Transformation the following morning. His understanding of Perfect Body had improved considerably since he began examining its refinements. He could now recognize which portions of a proposed arrangement were necessary for maintaining function and which could be left to the body's natural integration.

That knowledge allowed him to approach several regions he had previously postponed. He spent the following week transforming additional nervous connections and marrow-related structures, preparing each region according to its functions before directing Acquired Energy into it. Some required only a short period of cultivation once the surrounding systems were ready. Others demanded several sessions because their connections extended through structures that still remained mortal.

Perfect Health supported his recovery, while No Regression preserved the completed transformations. Perfect Body continued integrating every successful improvement, allowing his increasingly transformed systems to operate together without the persistent adjustments that ordinary methods would have required.

Joe remained careful about the limits of the process. The talents could not provide energy he had not cultivated, and each converted region still required time to settle. He therefore worked according to the condition of his body rather than attempting to complete the remaining transformation in one uninterrupted effort.

His progress carried him beyond 97%. As the percentage increased, the remaining mortal structures became concentrated in several complicated regions. Joe could now approach many of their outer connections, but the central portions demanded greater precision. He continued working through the structures whose functions he understood, refining their integration before attempting another difficult region. After several more sessions, the panel finally showed:

Innate Transformation — 98.91%

Joe remained seated after completing the last conversion, allowing his Acquired Energy to recover while he examined the result. Almost his entire body had undergone Innate Transformation. The converted structures now formed an extensive connected system, and Perfect Body had refined their integration far beyond the arrangements he originally intended. However, the remaining mortal portions occupied some of the most important locations in his body. Certain structures within the brain and spinal cord remained incomplete, together with several central nervous connections and delicate marrow-related regions. Their functions extended throughout the transformed body, and Joe could not treat them independently without affecting systems that depended on them.

He studied the available transformation sequences. His recent methods had succeeded because he could prepare a region, convert it, and allow Perfect Body to refine its integration with the surrounding structures. The final portions did not offer the same freedom. Their connections reached into multiple transformed systems, and changing one could alter the conditions required by another before the first had settled.

Joe examined the problem through Medicine Perfection, tracing the functions that needed to remain stable. He could identify each dependency, but no isolated sequence accommodated all of them. He considered beginning with the smallest remaining structure, then rejected the approach after examining its connections. Transforming that portion first would leave several surrounding systems dependent on an arrangement that had not yet been completed. The other possible starting points presented similar difficulties. Perfect Body could refine a successful transformation, but Joe still needed to establish a method that allowed the remaining structures to change without disrupting their essential functions. For the first time in several days, he ended his research without beginning another conversion.

Joe reviewed the anatomical records throughout the evening. The completed regions no longer required substantial correction, and their integration had become remarkably efficient. Yet the remaining structures continued linking the body's most important functions through portions that had not undergone transformation. His previous methods had approached the body one region at a time, preserving the surrounding arrangements while each selected portion changed. That approach had brought him to 98.91%.

Joe examined the remaining connections again and recognized why further individual transformations offered no reliable path. The final structures depended on the entire transformed body, and their conversion would need to preserve those relationships throughout the process. He closed the records and set them aside. The following morning, he intended to spend some time away from cultivation before returning to the problem. He had examined the same structures repeatedly without finding a satisfactory sequence, and another session would accomplish little until he reconsidered how the remaining transformation should proceed.