Life Return: Muscles

Technique list name: Life Return - Muscles
Overview: Life Return is a rare skill that works to boost the user’s control over their own bodies to extensive levels. These powers can range from control over the digestive system to control over the lungs, or even over hair. These techniques focus on the muscles, strengthening their capabilities, shrinking the space they take up, and turning them into formidable defenses.
User:  Universally accessible.
History:  The Life Return is a very unusual ability which focuses on total self mastery, it is said that one can unlock such a state by hours of meditation and intense physical training but it may be possible to learn this ability from other means. Though no standardized method or teaching the Life Return exists, it is popular among the Navy and World Government officials, who typically face pirates with Devil Fruits. These particular techniques are meant to strengthen the strikes made when the user attacks an opponent, and provide an impromptu defense when the need arises.
Techniques:

-Level Zero-

Name: Basic Muscle Advancement
Type:  Life Return
Description:  Through effort of the user, the user’s muscles simply work… better. The heart, the digestive system, the arm and leg muscles: all of these and more perform their actions more easily, fluidly, and when necessary, in sync. The muscles also need less oxygen to perform their functions, helping them last longer.
Effect: Gives the user a general boost to the machinations of their muscles, allowing them to perform actions more fluidly, with less stress, and generally with a lesser chance of something ridiculous going wrong.
Level learned: Zero
Stat Requirements:  5% Skill, 5% Talent

-Level One-

Name: Muscle Strength -Minor-
Type:  Life Return
Description: Through continued effort, the user of this technique strengthens the muscles of their limbs, increasing their strength with more ease. Not too much of a change yet, but still impressive.
Effect: The user gains more physical strength, gaining the equivalent to a 5% increase in their strength.
Level learned: One
Stat Requirements: 7% Skill, 6% Talent

Name: Muscle Tensing
Type:  Life Return
Description: The user consciously tenses every single muscle in his or her body, while implanting their feet into the ground as solidly as possible.
Effect: The user of this technique numbs some of the damage they’d receive from a blunt attack, and also becomes much harder to knock over or knock back. Unfortunately, this technique is nowhere near the level of Tekkai, so it has rather low limits.
Level learned: One
Stat Requirements:  8% Skill, 7% Talent

-Level Two-

Name: Muscle Endurance -Basic-
Type:  Life Return
Description: The user consistently builds up their muscles’ endurance to pain and tearing, by strengthening the muscles in a different way than in Muscle Strength.
Effect: The muscles of the user are less likely to tear and can take more damage from strikes without feeling as much pain in their muscles.
Level learned: Two
Stat Requirements:  10% Skill, 8% Talent

Name: Muscle Relaxing
Type:  Life Return
Description: The polar opposite to Muscle Tensing, the user of this technique relaxes all the muscles of their body, releasing nervous tension and moving less rigidly.
Effect: The user of this technique becomes relaxed in body and mind, and they move more lithely and calmly: this also serves to calm the mind and aid the user in ordering their thoughts.
Level learned: Two
Stat Requirements:  12% Skill, 9% Talent

-Level Three-

Name: Muscle Compactness -Minor-
Type:  Life Return
Description:  In order to increase flexibility (and catch opponents by surprise), the users of this technique compress and hide their muscles somewhat, making their muscles seem smaller than their capabilities would suggest.
Effect: The user of this technique looks, on the outside, wimpier than they really are: this also help the user bend more easily, without potentially huge muscles getting in their way.
Level learned: Three
Stat Requirements:  15% Skill, 10% Talent

-Level Four-

Name: Muscle Strength -Medium-
Type:  Life Return
Description: An improvement upon Muscle Strength -Basic-, the user of this technique has even further strength increases just by having this technique.
Effect: The user of this technique gains the equivalent to a 15% increase to their strength stat, not stacking with Muscle Strength -Basic-.
Level learned: Four
Stat Requirements:  15% Skill, 11% Talent

Name: Heart Synchronization
Type:  Life Return
Description: The user of this technique has given their heart a minor upgrade: their heart is less likely to become erratic in beating, and it’s harder for it to give out: it continually beats at a steady rate. What steady rate? That varies.
Effect: The user’s heart becomes stronger and less likely to give out due to fatigue: it’s not THAT powerful though, so the user’s heart can still stop.
Level learned: Four
Stat Requirements:  18% Skill, 12% Talent

-Level Five-

Name: Muscle Endurance -Medium-
Type:  Life Return
Description:  The user of this technique has trained his muscles to withstand further damage, helping them suffer less wear-and-tear from being struck. The muscles are also far less prone to tearing, so they don’t randomly rip during strenuous activity.
Effect: The user’s ability to use their muscles as a form of defense similar to Tekkai is improved, but again, not by much.
Level learned: Five
Stat Requirements:  20% Skill, 15% Talent

Name: Muscle Efficiency
Type:  Life Return
Description: The user has modified their muscles to use oxygen even more efficiently, allowing the muscles to run at their best for longer periods of time.
Effect: The user of this technique is able to run at their best for twice as long as normal: unfortunately, this also results in the wind-down being especially worse: the muscles become extremely sore and movement becomes difficult for five posts if the user goes at full blast for twenty consecutive posts.
Level learned: Five
Stat Requirements:  23% Skill, 17% Talent

-Level Six-

Name: Muscle Compactness -Major-
Type:  Life Return
Description:  To further increase the capabilities and benefits of Muscle Compactness -Minor-, the user of this technique simply compress their entire muscle mass to the appearance of their choice, without losing their real strength.
Effect: The user is able to manipulate the appearance of their muscles in order to either look weaker or stronger, depending on the appearance the user desires. This does not result in a loss of strength, but could potentially make the user ‘lose weight’.
Level learned: Six
Stat Requirements:  25% Skill, 18% Talent

-Level Seven-

Name: Muscle Strength -Advanced-
Type:  Life Return
Description:  An improvement on Muscle Strength -Medium-, the user of this technique has trained his or her muscles continuously, resulting in a nearly permanent boost to their strength.
Effect:  The user of this technique gains the equivalent to a 25% boost to their strength stat.
Level learned: Seven
Stat Requirements:  30% Skill, 20% Talent

Name: Muscle Persistence
Type:  Life Return
Description: Through effort, the user of this technique has almost no soreness in their limbs after strenuous activity, removing the problems associated with overusing the muscles.
Effect: The muscles no longer get sore after strenuous activity, removing the negative effects of Muscle Efficiency.
Level learned: Seven
Stat Requirements:  30% Skill, 20% Talent

-Level Eight-

Name: Muscle Endurance -Advanced-
Type:  Life Return
Description:  A further improvement upon Muscle Endurance -Medium-, this makes blunt attacks leave almost no lasting soreness on the muscles, and bruising is basically impossible. Not to say pain is entirely negated: it just doesn’t last that long.
Effect: The user’s Muscle Tension technique is further advanced, and he or she can use his or her muscles as a fairly decent damage buffer for blunt attacks.
Level learned: Eight
Stat Requirements:  35% Skill, 22% Talent

Name: Defense of the Loved
Type:  Life Return
Description:  With the advanced endurance given by Muscle Endurance -Advanced- combined with the technique of Muscle Tension, the user of this technique flexes their muscles and hardens them to the toughness of iron.
Effect: With this technique, the user is able to defend from nearly any physical attack, gaining about a 30% boost to endurance when using this technique. Note, tension does not occur instantly: must be given warning.
Level learned: Eight
Stat Requirements:  35% Skill, 25% Talent

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