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Book 6 – Prologue (Previous act) After a few minutes of noise, the siren died down suddenly. From afar, I could hear footsteps approaching us. It was probably the guard team they had called for just now. I gulped. We were both underequipped and outnumbered. Things would be getting ugly any minute now. It was just me, Emma and the guard team now. “Sweetcheeks.†“Yes, Emma?†“You ready for this?†“I hope.†“You… hope?†“It’s better than nothing, right?†“True.†A second of pause. “Sweetcheeks.†“Yes, Emma?†“You know, the real fun begins once we’re out of this mess. But first, let’s focus on the mess.†“Wait… what? What do you mean, ‘real fun?’†“Your ninja training.†“Ninja training? That stuff again?†“Yup. Only this time, it’s for real.†“What that supposed to mean? Are you saying all the pain I went through so far has been for nothing?†“No, it hasn’t. That was your entrance exam, remember?†“You’re kidding me.†“Totally not. Oh, and also, congratulations on passing that exam!†Emma gave me a big hug. Or rather, a squeeze. A tight squeeze. “Th—thanks.â€, I replied, deflated. “You’re welcome, sweetcheeks. From now on, the fun will only increase, now that you’re a probationary ninja.†“You’re… you’re making me a probie?†“Yep.†“Oh boy…†“Tee hee, I’m glad you’re happy too.†“That’s not…†“Well, as I said, the fun will really begin once we’re out of this mess. So let’s do that first. Here they come!†*sigh* “Aye-aye, Coach.†Challenge goals For the first week: survive, with no lasting damages. I’m on a business trip. Or whatever you’d call “get your butt kicked by a grandmaster for 9 days straight, until it’s the shape of his footâ€. For the following weeks: track everything, intensify and socialize. Track everything. Write the following into my journal every day, so I have a clear view of how I spend my time:strength training (Am/ToD)[1]martial arts (Am/ToD)wake-up timePhD application work (Am/ToD)(computer) programming (Am/ToD)TV/video games/YouTube/etc. (Am/ToD)Progress on goals #2 and 3 below.Intensify. Do the above-mentioned things (except items #6 and 7) in higher intensity. This means more reps/whatevers, or more frequent sessions, or earlier time of day, or more proactive work. Yes/no mark, on a daily basis, per item.Socialize. Comment intelligently on a single person’s thread from my accountability group, and on a single person’s thread not in my group, preferably Monks and Assassins. Optionally strike a 2min+ small talk-ish conversation with A Real Human™… you know, like, face to face, and stuff. Yes/no mark, on a daily basis. “Overachiever†mark for also managing the optional.Rationale (Not for the first week… The rationale for the first week is “they promised me cookiesâ€.) The big theme here is “step up my game.†I already do things #1—5, just mostly haphazardly. So now, I’m adding intention and difficulty. As for the “socialize†goal: I’d describe myself as “cyclically socialâ€, meaning that I have phases where I am very sociable and phases where I’m socially distant and shut off.[2] For my own taste, I’ve spent too much time in a former phase. I’d like to return to the latter. So then. Let’s get dangerous! 1amount/time of day 2Interestingly, the latter phases tend to happen when I’m involved in video game sprees, or Bachelor/Master theses. Coincidence…?