4

The next day, Lucas had to work all day, leaving only the evening for training. In addition to his work as a programmer, he also worked on his social network project. With the knowledge from his past life, he believed he could launch a working version in 8 months.

Now he stood in front of a gym. The sign said Kong's Gym, but inside it looked like a normal gym.

As he entered, he spoke to the attendant in front of him.

"Hi, I'd like to know how to sign up for a workout here."

"Normal training or super training?" She asked.

"Super training, I guess..." He hadn't seen anything that could challenge him in this gym yet.

"The monthly plan is $200 a month. The annual is 180."

The prices were very high, but considering that it would make it much easier for him to gain strength, and the quality of the equipment needed for superhuman training was immense, it was reasonable enough.

"I'll take the monthly plan."

Lucas didn't know how effective the training here would be for him, so not signing up for a year was a choice that could save him some money.

"You just need to fill out your registration form here on this paper and pay for your first month in advance."

With everything taken care of, Lucas was eager to begin his training.

He was led to an elevator that gave access to the underground levels.

"We have three levels below us. On the first, we have weightlifting machines and alters up to 100 tons. On the second floor, we have chambers that simulate extreme environments to train your stamina. On the third floor, we have individual training chambers that are super-strong, able to withstand the impact of even the strongest of superheroes, where you can train any superpower. Unless you're as strong as the Immortal or War Woman, you don't have to worry about damaging the chambers."

Lucas was sure she was exaggerating a bit. But he could imagine that these chambers were pretty sturdy, and that was all he needed for now.

When he arrived on the second floor, several people were already training. Some of them had exotic appearances that enhanced their characteristics of strength and durability. He imagined that he would find such superhumans here, since this was a place that focused on pushing their physical abilities to the limit.

"Hey, new here? My name is Derek."

A tall man approached Lucas as soon as he entered the room, a smile on his face and his hand outstretched to greet him.

"Yes, I just arrived. My name is Lucas, I'll be training here for a while."

As he greeted him, he gave him a strong handshake that surprised Lucas.

"Welcome, Lucas. With your strength, I suggest you start with the level 3 machines."

He said, still smiling.

"Were you able to gauge my strength from my handshake? Or is it a special power of yours?" Lucas was curious, knowing the strength of others was quite useful. He himself was working on how to measure the strength of others by their life force, which he could feel when he used his Ki sense.

"It's a mixture of both. I have this ability that allows me to sense a person's overall strength by touching them. I didn't think you'd figure it out so quickly."

As he spoke, the man seemed quite friendly. He didn't seem at all bothered that Lucas had discovered his ability, as if it wasn't something important.

"Anyway, it was nice to meet you, Lucas. See you later."

He soon left and returned to his own training.

Lucas was even more eager to test these machines. They were divided into levels, and from what he saw, the level 3 machines were for people who could exert at least 1 ton of force. To use the level 4 machines, he would have to have the strength to lift at least 30 tons, and the level 5 machines would require at least 70 tons. All that weight might seem like a lot, but he knew that even the Immortal could have that level of strength. The Omni-man would be even stronger. In fact, he thinks that 100 tons wouldn't even come close to the Omni-Man's limit.

Around him, only three people were using the level 4 machines, including Derek. No one was using the level 5 machines.

He soon selected a level 3 machine. It looked much more sturdy than a normal gym machine, but it worked in a similar way, using a pulley system to work the upper muscles. Apparently, there were specific machines for each muscle group, just as there were machines for normal people on the first floor.

He started the workout with a weight of 1.2 tons, which was a little more effort than he usually managed. But since he was here to push his limits, he couldn't do it lightly.

He did this exercise for forty minutes before he was completely exhausted. Then he rested for twenty minutes until he felt good again. His body was adapting, slowly, but he could already feel the benefit of taking so little time to rest.

He then spent the next 40 minutes doing a leg press with double the weight, almost two and a half tons.

After spending nearly two hours in the gym, he decided to leave. He would return tomorrow to work out again.

He spent the next two weeks working out every night, pushing his body to the limit.

After two weeks of intense training, his fighting power had increased from 12 to 23. He could already lift 3 tons with the strength of his arms alone. He didn't expect that his fighting power would almost double in just two weeks. This also made him realize something very important: his increase in strength was not linear. His fighting power had doubled, but his physical strength had tripled.

He didn't know how far this exponential increase would go, but he knew that it wouldn't stop anytime soon.

He knew that after a while, he would need more and more increases in fighting power to achieve a significant increase in strength. It's largely for this reason that after the Frieza Saga, the levels of fighting power are completely abandoned, as they no longer make sense. But Lucas knew he was still a long way from that level.

After two weeks of intense training, he thought he was ready for the second level. Going into the chambers that simulate extreme environments should put additional pressure on his body, allowing him to evolve much faster.

Goku and Krillin's training with Master Roshi took eight full months, but with all this equipment here, he believed it would only take him three months to reach their level.

He didn't think he was more talented than them, on the contrary, he was sure he was far behind them in talent. But his training was much more focused on increasing his strength to the detriment of his abilities, unlike Goku and Krillin's training, which took into account all aspects of martial arts, from strengthening to the proper use of force.

He also had an advantage that both Goku and Krillin lacked. His body passively adapted to overcome its limits. This could allow him to become stronger much faster than them, at least in the beginning.

When he reached the second floor, he saw more than twenty training chambers. Despite the quantity, there were only three types of chambers. The first was a chamber with an extremely cold environment, almost absolute zero. This wasn't the kind of training he wanted. The second was an environment of extreme heat. That was good for his purposes, but not even close to the third.

The third type of chamber was an extreme pressure chamber. The internal pressure increased with every minute a person spent inside. It could get to the point where the internal pressure was so high that the heat was just as extreme as in the second chamber. It was the most extreme environment he could handle.

Once inside the chamber, he began to exercise regularly as the pressure increased. Soon it became more difficult to breathe. His lungs had to work harder to get oxygen to critical parts of his body. His movements became more difficult as the pressure increased.

In less than 10 minutes, he was sweating profusely, both from the effort and from the heat he was beginning to feel in there.

His clothes were soaked with sweat, but soon began to dry as the heat evaporated the sweat.

Soon his skin began to burn from the high temperature. Moving around was becoming as difficult as swimming in a muddy pond. But none of this stopped him from training.

Soon, even his hair began to sizzle. And a burning smell began to emanate from it. That was when he knew it was time to stop.

Lucas didn't mind training until he caught fire, it would be a good catalyst for his passive adaptation. But he still didn't want to go bald from training.

Every day he did the same training. His routine basically became work and training. In three months, he not only trained his stamina in the pressure chamber, but also pushed his muscles to the limit by training each and every one of them on the second floor.

In just three months, his fighting power jumped from a mere 12 to 109. Slightly stronger than Goku in 21 Tenkaichi Budokai. He could lift 15 tons with ease. Unfortunately, this increase in strength came at the cost of his inability to control his Ki properly. He was so focused on getting stronger that controlling his ki took a back seat.

Now, he would have to spend the next month adjusting it. With the right ki control for his level of fighting power, he was sure that his overall strength would at least double.

But it wasn't just that he would train for the next month, he also wanted to use his knowledge of ki manipulation. He had a few techniques in mind that were crucial to his plans.

The first part of the training was to coordinate his Ki with his body, to use his strength much more efficiently. Next, he practiced long-range ki attacks. Ki bursts were the most common attacks used by Dragon Ball characters.

All this was done in the various training rooms on the third floor underground. These rooms proved to be incredibly resistant, beyond what Lucas had expected.

By expelling ki from his body to perform his attacks, he was not only training explosive attacks, but also delicate control over them. Creating a ball of energy, maintaining it indefinitely without dissipating or exploding, and handling it proved to be a complicated task, but one that was completely mastered in a matter of days.

Another aspect that took days to perfect was the compression of ki to generate more powerful attacks. It would probably have taken him years to perfect this if he hadn't had the knowledge he had.

It was during this training that he realized the versatility of Ki. By compressing it, he could also change the structure of the ki to create different attacks. He could create something like the Kame Hame Ha, which was capable of disintegrating the opponent, or he could create a purely blunt, piercing attack. He could use ki to trap enemies, create shields, and much more. There were so many possibilities that they couldn't be explored in just one month. That's why he refrained from using explosive bursts of ki and a disintegrating attack in the style of Kame Hame Ha. The latter had a recharge time of a few seconds, making it impossible to use in one-on-one combat, but perfect for group combat.

Finally, he practiced the technique he most wanted to master, the Sky Dance, or simply the flying technique.

To his surprise, he discovered that there were two different flying techniques in the knowledge he had acquired about ki manipulation. One was the one used by the Dragon Team, the one Gohan teaches Videl and Goten. The other, a technique used by Piccolo, is more efficient than the first. At higher levels of power, the difference is almost zero, but at lower levels, it was enough to show faster speed and greater efficiency in the use of Ki.

There was no need to say which one he chose. The technique Piccolo used, instead of simply using Ki to propel himself through the air, used a much more sublime manipulation of Ki. Of course, it involved using Ki to propel the body to fly, but once you started flying at high speeds, Ki was used to reduce air resistance, resulting in less and less use of Ki. This also made it more difficult to master the technique.

By the end of the month, he had managed to adjust to his new level of power and had also learned many new techniques. Now, he was fully prepared to put his plans into action.

It had been four months since he started training, but now it was time to begin his real journey in this world.