Training

After eating a couple of hot dogs, he couldn't help but look at the city around him. If he ignored certain things, he could swear he was back in his old world. But the posters of heroes everywhere, the news on some screens, constantly reminded him of where he was.

The names of some brands were slightly different, but at least the food still tasted the same. Even Burger Mart had the flavors of other franchises from his old world. It was good that some things hadn't changed.

Now, he needed to find a place to train his ki control. Obviously, he wouldn't have enough space in his apartment to test all the uses and abilities he now knew.

The most obvious option would be to find a place outside the city. There were some good areas on Long Island, but he wanted to make a longer trip to Wharton State Forest.

It would be at least a 2-hour drive, but it would be easy to get there using some app-based transportation.

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Arriving at a clearing in the middle of the Wharton State Forest, Lucas began to test his newly acquired knowledge of manipulating Ki.

The first step was to get used to sensing his surroundings with Ki. Feeling one's own Ki is as easy as flexing a muscle for someone who has never had contact with any kind of supernatural energy. Ki is something that has never been in his body in his entire life, and from the moment he got this new body, he was able to feel it immediately.

The problem was how to use it. He had the knowledge, but the practice was a whole other level.

"All right, let's go! All I have to do is keep my Ki-sense on alert as long as I can." Lucas said excitedly.

He started to slowly expand his senses around him. Every inch he expanded, a flood of information came into his mind. The earth, the plants around him, it was as if he could touch every detail with his bare hands.

The real training was to ignore this vast amount of information and focus only on what he wanted to feel as he expanded more and more.

When he expanded to 10 cubic meters around him, he found his limit. Due to his low amount of Ki, he could only sense an area the size of a small room around him.

Maintaining this state of alertness required intense concentration, but the more he practiced, the easier it would become.

But that wasn't what he had come here for. He could use his sense of Ki wherever he wanted without disturbing anyone. What he really wanted to test were the other aspects of Ki.

Using Ki to strengthen his body beyond its normal capabilities and using it in combat was something he could not wait to try.

With the amount of ki he had now, he couldn't expect to fly or send out bursts of ki willy-nilly. But he was sure that if he could control his Ki well, he could show superhuman abilities, maybe even a little stronger than the super soldiers in the MCU.

"Come on, it's time to test how strong I am at my maximum capacity." He took a stance while calibrating his Ki to cover his entire body. It was important to keep a balance so that his energy expenditure wouldn't be too high and cause damage to his muscles.

"Okay, let's start with the tests. Test number 1: Jump."

He did two basic tests, a high jump and a long jump. The high jump required more strength because gravity was a stronger resistance factor in this case. He still managed to jump 5 meters high. In the long jump, he jumped 18 meters. In both tests he more than doubled the record for these jumping events. Considering that he had a Proto-Adamantium skeleton that made him weigh almost 300 kilograms, he did very well compared to normal humans, even if they were elite athletes.

When he tested his strength, he was able to move some very large rocks. He estimated that he could lift at least 900 kg, which wasn't far behind Goku at the beginning of Dragon Ball. Goku was able to lift Bulma's car at that time, which must have weighed as much as a Mini Cooper, about 1200 to 1300 kg. The extra weight of his skeleton must have reduced his strength a bit.

Of course, all of this was only possible because his ki passively strengthened his body. Otherwise, he wouldn't even be able to move properly.

Another positive thing about the weight of his skeleton was that it acted as a weight to train his body with Ki. Goku and Krillin did something similar at the beginning of their training. If he started training normally, the weight of his skeleton alone would help him strengthen immensely.

After a full day of pulling rocks and hitting trees, Lucas was exhausted. He soon stopped to rest for a while before heading home.

"Hey, you little shit. If you wanted to train, you didn't have to destroy the whole forest." A distant voice said.

As Lucas stood up to look around, he almost stumbled when he saw who was talking to him. A large creature that was half man, half gorilla was staring at him with irritation.

"Do you know that there are places in the city that specialize in providing conditions for superhuman training? Instead of coming here and making a mess..."

Lucas remembered who that was. Man Kong was a superhero who had made a brief appearance on the show. Normally, he wouldn't have been able to remember such a character, but his memories of this world imprinted who it was.

"Sorry, I didn't think I'd make such a mess... I also didn't know there were more suitable places in the city."

Lucas was really embarrassed, he didn't think anyone would mind him training so far away from the city. But being caught in the act always caused that feeling of embarrassment.

"Get out of here before I decide to beat you up as a lesson... And look for Kong's Gym, I own the franchise, every entry counts."

He said the last part with a strange salesman's smile on his face, it didn't even look like he had just threatened to beat Lucas up.

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When he got home, the first thing he did was use the scouter to measure his fighting strength. Nothing had changed, but he thought that with a few more weeks of training he would see an exponential increase in his power.

After a shower, all he needed was a meal and a good night's sleep.

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Well guys, this chapter was a bit shorter than the others. But I'm planning to write longer chapters, at least 2,000 words.

As you can see, I invented Kong's Gym. I don't even know if there's anything like it in the comics, but I think heroes can do some ventures that take advantage of all the publicity they get from saving people. And it's something I had to invent for our MC to have a place to train while he's poor.

I also ended up using the metric system in this chapter, and I'll probably use it in the next ones, since I have no idea how the imperial system works.

In the next two chapters I will speed up the storyline. It's been very slow, but I think it's time to bring the MC into contact with other people and heroes, face some villains, and get stronger. I have some plans for that two-year period before the story starts, but I still have to plan it properly. So I don't know if I'll post any chapters this week, I'll probably post them on Friday or Saturday, but I'm not sure. I don't have a set schedule yet because I'm posting as I write. Over the next few days I'll try to write a good number of chapters and then slowly edit each one as I go.