Strength of Martial Arts

Shaking his head, Heaven stood up, already having a couple of ideas running through his head regarding his special mixture.

"Heaven."

Suddenly at that moment, Heaven turned his head over to Abraham who was calling him. He looked more focused compared to before and he was standing before a table filled with carefully selected equipment and beakers..

With a small smile on his face, Abraham said, "Let's begin researching my Super Soldier Serum."

Heaven nodded and joined Abraham with a smile.

At this moment, Heaven didn't care much about the serum or the knowledge anymore. After his true self took control of his body, he could think clearer and was much more intelligent than before.

With a glance at the chemicals Abraham had prepared, a couple of serums appeared in his head. Removing them one by one based on what Abraham wished for, a single serum soon appeared in his, perfect and more advanced compared to what Abraham could ever make.

If Heaven is right with his calculations, this serum in his mind could grant someone five times the strength of what the original serum could accomplish. Nonetheless, like Heaven had mentioned before, this carried a risk called Fate.

Since the serum itself didn't have any drawbacks aside from limited growth in strength after taking this serum, it obviously held consequences through Fate.

Whoever will take this serum, will live a harsh life.

Seeing Heaven ready and serious, Abraham nodded before beginning to showcase what he knew and already researched.

"Let's begin."

Heaven looked at Abraham and quietly watched, only occasionally asking a couple of questions in order to sell the illusion that he knew nothing.

Quietly, seven hours passed by in the blink of an eye.

After making countless errors on purpose and very minute improvements to the serum, Heaven slowly pushed Abraham in the correct direction.

He couldn't simply give Abraham the answer. Especially in his current state of heart and his thirst to create something extraordinary with his own two hands and mind.

It was like how Heaven didn't wish to rely on enhancing drugs in order to grow stronger. Their 'heart' yearned for a true and just path that would remain pure.

Like how Heaven had a bright and determined gaze set on his Martial, Dao, and Immortal Paths, Abraham also has his determined gaze on his Science Path.

"We made good progress," Abraham said with a bright smile.

After months of being stuck on a certain part of his serum, Heaven had helped him resolve part of it. His gaze was brighter as he could see the light over the horizon.

Heaven remained silent and quietly put on a serious look on his face before speaking seriously to Abraham, "This serum can be made stronger."

"I-it can be made stronger?"

Turning to look at Heaven in surprise, Abraham looked rather intrigued and amazed at how Heaven could discover something like that.

"I have a couple of ideas that could possibly make it stronger, but to prove if it works, we will need to complete this version first," Heaven said, nodding to Abraham's question.

"I originally believed I could finish the Super Soldier Serum in at most three years, but with your help, I could accomplish it in maybe less time," Abraham mentioned before putting on a thinking expression. "If we are able to improve on it like you mentioned, it might take us another half a year, bringing me back near the finish date I had believed I could complete the serum."

"Then we need to work more seriously," Heaven said as he smiled and gave Abraham a pat on the back.

Abraham grinned, "Go get some rest. Tomorrow you're working with Howard so you can understand what he's doing. Knowing him, he might leave you in charge of the machine whilst he goes do something else."

Shaking his head, Abraham felt like Howard was too easygoing.

To mess around in troubling times like these and fool around with women, Abraham didn't know what was going on through Howard's head. Young and eccentric geniuses are always like this, believing they could do whatever they can.

Hearing what Abraham said about Howard, Heaven simply smiled.

He could see what type of person Howard is like at first glance, and although Howard is currently a playboy, Heaven could see that Howard was rather serious about his work.

Whether it was because of the war or not, it proved Howard had a sort of integrity.

"Alright. I will see you tomorrow then, Dr. Erskine," Heaven said as he bade farewell to Abraham.

Abraham nodded.

Leaving the chemical lab, Heaven ran into Howard who was doing some final revisions on the blueprint for the day.

"Heading home?"

Seeing Heaven approach him, Howard took the initiative to talk with him.

Heaven nodded, "Is work going smoothly?"

"Mm, just fixing some crucial parts to the blueprint," Howard said with a smirk. "I will need your help with creating this machine. I want to see what your capable of. If you're capable, you will already be of much better help then these other people."

The last sentence was said to a whisper to Heaven, although it was meant more of a harmless joke.

Smiling, Heaven responded enthusiastically, "Sounds good to me. I'll be here to help you tomorrow with the rest."

"I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Yeah, until tomorrow, Mr. Stark."

"Just call me Howard, the word mister makes me feel old and I'm still quite young," joked Howard as he gave Heaven a teasing look on his face.

Nodding, Heaven was planning to leave already when something caught his eye.

With a smile, Heaven walked over to the item before turning to look at Howard.

"Howard, you think I could keep this two things?"

Howard turned to look at the items Heaven wanted and a confused expression emerged on his face.

"Those two? Are you sure?"

***

Standing outside of the disguised facility, Adam was standing around smoking a cigarette. There was a small foldable chair next to him which he carried around in his car.

After sitting for a while, he felt tired and stood up.

His eyes looked at the passing cars and the children running around and playing with baseballs.

Dee-ding!

Hearing the front door of the disguised facility opening, Adam turned to look at who it was curiously.

"Ahem…"

With a small cough, Adam dropped his cigarette and stomped on it before twisting his foot on the cigarette to effectively stomp it out.

"Sir Heaven, you've-"

Adam was greeting Heaven when he was suddenly stunned by what he saw.

At the door, Heaven was pulling two items, one was a long and thin object covered by a piece of cloth. It was difficult to tell what it was but Adam could tell that it had the shape of a board.

The other item was long and shaped like a pole, thick enough to barely hold in one's hands. It was almost five feet long and it was also covered in a cloth.

As tall as a grown man and as wide as a door. Hearing the sound of the wheels beneath the covered board, Adam could surmise that the objects were really heavy.

"You're here just in time, Adam."

Hearing Heaven's words, Adam began to feel regret for accepting this job. First he waited outside for 8 hours and now he had to help carry something heavy.

"Yes sir, what can I help with…?"

Resigning to his fate, Adam stepped forward to help.

"Help me take this thing home," Heaven said as he pulled the two large and heavy items out of the antique shop.

However, the job Adam believed that he was going to have to do alone turned out to be naught.

Behind Heaven and the heavy items he was pulling along, were two men who were muscular and were wearing white shirts and tank tops.

They looked like the average construction workers in that simple getup they were in.

Whilst two guys helped Heaven with the heavy board, the other man carried with great difficulty the covered pole.

His muscles were threatening to bulge out of his skin and his blood vessels ready to pop at any moment. The man's breathing was getting rough and he was sweating madly.

Huff…

Huff…

Adam could hear the man panting and watched as he helped take it to his car.

"I-I got it!"

Moving quickly, Adam opened the trunk of his car and watched as the panting man put the pole object in the trunk.

Squeak…

The car squeaked as the man let the pole object rest in the trunk.

Worried, Adam looked at the incoming board.

"Ugh… my car…"

***

"Thanks for the help!"

Heaven smiled and waved goodbye to Adam who drove the three guys away to their homes.

After seeing Adam turn the corner of the street, Heaven walked over to his backyard where he saw a large metal plate tied extremely tightly to his family's backyard's tree.

Off to the side was a heavy metal pole five feet long resting upon the tree.

Walking up to the metal plate, Heaven calmly looked at it as he felt his own strength.

In just a single night, his strength had increased by a little thanks to his breathing technique. Naturally, with the breathing technique, Heaven's strength had a sort of multiplier to it due to the efficiency of his blood flow and flawless breathing.

He could possibly draw out twice his strength and could actively use ten times his strength if he really tried breathing deeper.

Feeling every inch of his muscles and his flowing blood, Heaven closed his fist gently before throwing a punch at the metal plate.

Dong!

Feeling a slight pain in his fist that quickly disappeared, Heaven frowned a bit before fixing his stance and fixing some minor flaws that were in his punch.

Dong!!

Smiling, Heaven pulled back his fist that hurt considerably less than the first time.

Both his punches were nearly similar, but they produced two different strength and rebound pain levels.

Despite being weak and lacking in both stamina and endurance, Heaven had an 'out of this world' mastery of his martial skills.

If he trained his body properly, even without the strength or special breathing technique, Heaven could quite likely destroy a metal plate with ease.

Things like parting the skies with a single punch could occur as long as one understood and mastered the spirit and essence behind martial arts.

Like seeking and comprehending the Dao.

Thinking about that, Heaven looked at his hand before turning to look at the metal plate with a small smirk on his face.

Huu~

Letting out a relaxed breath, Heaven focused his mind and paid attention to every portion of his body. His eyes directly stared at a single point on the metal plate.

Going down to a simple horse stance, Heaven let out a single punch.

It was simple and direct.

Bang!

A loud sound resounded in the backyard and Heaven pulled back his injured hand without a change in expression.

His eyes stared right at the spot he had punched to with his martial skill.

Ha!

With a triumphant laugh, Heaven looked at the small indent on the inch thick metal plate.

As long as Heaven gets his body used to martial arts, he will be able to poke holes through metal plates like nothing. Punching a star out of the night sky would be as easy as breathing once he reaches that point.

'Martial arts…' thought Heaven with a smirk. 'A path filled with unknown opportunities and great strength.'

With that same smirk on his face, Heaven looked up at the sky and recalled how a single slice of his sword could cut down space and time, Heaven and Earth, and the void itself.

Such magnificent times.

Heaven couldn't help but wish to relive those moments as he lifted his hand in the air and chopped down slowly. His eyes were sharp and his hand seemed to suddenly turn into a blade that could slice through anything.

Dong!

Suddenly, the sound of Heaven's hand hitting the metal plate resounded.

"Haha… looks like I really need to train this body at least to a certain extent," muttered Heaven as he looked at his bloody hand.

Even if he planned to use the special technique to get himself stronger, Heaven required time to gather the materials for the mixture. For now however, he could do some 'simple' strength training at home and maybe create something to help with that.

However, he first needed to take care of his damaged hands.

Turning around to head inside the house, Heaven turned his head and looked at the tree for a second before chuckling a little.

"Looks like I'm not as rusty as I thought," Heaven muttered before entering his family's home.

Silence resumed within the backyard when suddenly a small but thick branch from the tree fell down. Paying close attention to it, one could see that the small branch seemed to be cut by something extremely sharp.