Gotham City Park

"You might want to lose the shirt," Richard said, his tone solemn as he stood before me. He still hasn't revealed his method to me, and the fact he started with that wasn't exactly reassuring.

"That bad, huh?" I uncomfortably asked, sighing. Still, I obliged and took off my shirt, turning to my teacher as I waited for further instructions. I had my doubts about this whole thing, but I can't dismiss it until I knew I was sure.

"Now make yourself comfortable," Richard firmly said, not bothering to answer my questions, and that only confirmed my suspicion that I won't like what's to come.

"Are you familiar with how humans typically build their muscles?" Richard asked as he watched me sit on the grass, leaning against the tree. I shrugged, to which he nodded and continued.

"One would need to damage their muscles and put them under stress through training, lifting weights, and what not..." Richard added, and I nodded at him to indicate I was with him.

"Then one must allow the muscles some time to heal themselves, becoming stronger in a process known as muscle hypertrophy..." Richard explained as he sat next to me. He raised his left arm and flexed, showcasing the various muscles covering it.

"Muscle hypertrophy takes time and is relatively slow for most people. However, you are different..." Richard stated as he smiled at me. "Not only can you grow stronger at an astonishing pace, even beyond human limits..." he added, gesturing to the side.

"But your muscle mass works differently from normal humans. Heck, your arms should be as thick as barrels with how much strength you can muster," Richard remarked with a chuckle, causing me to smile as I shrugged my shoulders. 

He wasn't lying. Despite being god knows how many times stronger than the average man, I was still as lean as the day I woke up and found myself in this world. However, my body was still muscular and defined.

"Long story short, stress your muscles, let them rest, expose them to more stress, rinse and repeat," Richard concluded, his tone meaningful as he raised an eyebrow.

"Are you suggesting I purposely destroy my muscles and let my healing factor fix them?" I asked, frowning as I sighed and scratched my head in confusion, to which Richard nodded.

"Muscles don't work like that, not even mine..." I asked, heaving an exasperated sigh. I researched the matter when I got my accelerated healing perk, and nothing I found suggested something like this would work.

Destroying muscles, healing them, and stressing muscles, then letting them heal naturally and grow stronger are entirely different processes with different results.

I've suffered muscle damage during my fights with Killer Croc and the werewolf and when I tried my 100% muscle usage for the first time. The damaged muscles only regenerated back to their original state without gaining or losing power.

"True, but aren't you forgetting your ability to channel chi?" Richard asked, and my frown and confusion only deepened as I had no idea what channeling energy had to do with it.

"Show me your arm," Richard instructed, and I only hesitated for a second before raising my arms and bringing it closer to him. "It's gonna sting," he added, frowning in concentration as he reached for his dragon amulet with his left.

He rested the palm of his right on my bicep, and I could feel the energy flowing into Richard's body, slowly and deliberately coursing through it and into my arm.

I grit my teeth as the energy reached my bicep and began tearing it apart, causing me immense pain. I've had broken ribs, punctured lungs, and even a slit throat before, but this was on a wholly new level.

It surpassed any pain I've felt before, and the energy completely destroyed the muscle, causing my arm to go limb and almost fall if Richard wasn't gripping it.

However, that wasn't the worst part; the pain only grew more intense as my healing factor kicked in to start repairing the muscle with Richard, injecting more of his energy into my rapidly recovering bicep.

The entire process lasted no longer than ten seconds, but it felt like an eternity, and I could do nothing but sigh in relief as it ended, turning to Richard, who had a thoughtful look on his face.

"The effects were minimal because your body rejected my chi. However, there should still be some results..." Richard said, rubbing his chin in thought as he inspected my arm.

"How do you feel?" he asked after a second's pause, having found nothing wrong after checking my bicep and the rest of my arm.

"Like someone just scraped the muscles and nerves off my bones with a rusty knife..." I blankly replied as I began moving my arm around to get a feel for any changes that might have occurred.

"Other than that... I feel slightly stronger in that arm and..." I added, frowning as I trailed off and focused my energy into the now-healed arm while moving it.

"Channeling energy through my arm feels slightly smoother, and the usual energy loss is less as well..." I added as I opened and closed my fist, moving the energy toward it and causing it to glow.

"The results should have been more obvious... but your body rejected my energy for some reason..." Richard said, sighing as he scratched his head in genuine confusion.

"I suppose it would work better if you used your own energy to perform the augmentation..." Richard added after a second's pause as he gathered his thoughts.

"However, I'd need to teach you body augmentation and infusion, which I was planning on doing anyway..." Richard explained as he nodded his head and suddenly paused again.

"You've seen the results, minuscule as they are right now, and you know what you have to get through..." Richard hesitantly said as he looked at me, still moving my arm around to get rid of the phantom pain.

"You'd have to repeat this process on every muscle and nerve in your body..." he quickly explained as he gestured to the side with a thoughtful frown.

"Your body will be stronger, more durable, and more attuned with your energy. You will channel your energy more efficiently with almost no loss, but.." Richard stated, shaking his head as he trailed off mid-sentence.

"It's up to you to decide whether such drastic actions are worth the increase in strength," he concluded, shaking his head as he paused and looked away to let me think.

It didn't take much time and hesitation before I made my decision. The process was soul-wrenching and painful, and it was the worst thing I've ever experienced in both my lives.

I can't stress how much I hated every second of it, and the idea of repeating the process just one more time was enough to make me cringe, not to mention doing to every muscle and nerve in my body.

"I'll do it," I replied after a second's hesitation as I turned to my teacher with a resolute expression, causing him to sigh, his face troubled as he regarded me with a mixture of pride and concern.

If I was desperate enough for strength to trust the system and overcome my distaste for stat points, then a bit of physical pain definitely won't stop me, even if I'm if the word "bit" was not an apt description.

I might be paranoid, overcautious, and a bit whiney. Hell, I might be many things, but a coward and a hypocrite are none of them.

"I won't lie, kid. I was hoping and half expecting you to refuse..." Richard said, scratching his head in exasperation as he smiled at me. "But you have made a difficult choice, and it shows you've got the heart I saw in you back then," he added, his smile widening as he beamed at me and put a hand on my shoulder.

"I didn't take you for the corny type, teacher," I said with a chuckle, trying to hide my awkwardness and happiness at the praise as I honestly didn't know how to respond, and Richard's smile only turned broader after hearing my words.

Honestly, it's bewildering. I didn't even stutter with Batman standing in front of me, and words naturally came out of my mouth, but I couldn't even take praise from my teacher and keep a straight face.

"Cheeky little monster," Richard remarked with a laugh as he tousled my hair, causing me to roll my eyes as I slapped his hand away and stood up, clearing my throat.

"So... where do we begin...?" I asked as I straightened my clothes and changed the subject since I wasn't really good at dealing with emotional situations.

"We'll start with chi, or energy augmentation as you call it..."

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