Chapter 22: If you aren't cheating, you aren't trying

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"If you can't do something, then don't. Focus on what you can."

-SHIROE, (LOG HORIZON)

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Bruce had begun his training the very next day. Selina was training under three different teachers including Richard while Bruce just trained under Richard alone. He decided that he didn't want to train in stuff that he wasn't interested in or not gonna need in the future much in his line of 'work'. Batman was known for his combat and physical fitness, not for his yoga and gymnastics.

As for the level of agility, flexibility, and body-mind coordination that he was going to need to become an adept fighter, he would get it from his martial art and combat training.

Speaking of martial arts, Bruce found out that martial arts weren't exactly as easy as people imagined it to be. You were not told by your master to sweep the floor a thousand times and then after a couple of days, you become a master of fighting. No, the reality was much different. Training meant performing grueling and cruel sets of exercises and repeating even the simplest of techniques hundreds of times to master them and perform them without even the slightest of mistakes.

Prodigies weren't as common as seen in movies. And unfortunately, it turned out that Bruce himself wasn't a true prodigy or a fighting genius. After the first day of training, Richard just straight out told him with an expressionless face that he was better than the average which would have been a praise if it were in the normal world since the average assassin in DC could easily take on the best of martial arts geniuses in his previous world.

But here in the world of chi and unnatural and impossible combat techniques, he was just a guy who was slightly better than the average. And even that was probably because of him inheriting the original Bruce's better-than-average senses and brain. He might not have inherited the original's memories and stuff but he did get his physical body which included his potential to be the peak of what humanity could be. But even with all that, Bruce knew that he had more or less zero chance of being as good as Batman if he were to just depend on his tenacity as Batman did.

Why? Simple, because he lacked the iron-hard willpower and determination that the original had. Of course, this didn't mean that he was lacking in the department, he in fact had a lot of will and determination to survive and grow strong as well as protect the people that he cared about like Alfred, Selina, and the others but it was nothing compared to what the original Batman had. His willpower was like the strength of a mighty river in front of that of the original Batman which was like a raging ocean.

He knew that at this rate, he could become a decent respected martial artist within a decade or two, perhaps even better than some of the other heroes and vigilantes like the Question or Black Canary but that wasn't enough. He didn't just need to be better, he needed to be the best, and he needed to learn and master everything Richard had to offer within two years which was almost practically impossible since not only he wasn't that innately talented but also because he simply didn't have enough time to practice. He even lacked in the strength department since he was just eight years old.

So, Bruce decided to do the only thing he could do. He decided to cheat. He had already suspected that his talents in martial arts might not be the best and had begun preparing for it. A person's body might be a temple but it's the mind that's always in control of it. And Bruce was VERY proud of his mind.

So he finally made up his mind to start using his 'cheat' from the second day of training. He had already tried to learn the art of combat without using it to show respect to the hundreds of shonen protagonists he had watched in his previous life master everything from hard work alone but when he did it, all he got in return for this respect was the title of 'above average' from his master. So, he decided to just embrace the dark side and stop trying to be like a Shonen protagonist.

'Accepting my inner Itachi it is then.' He thought in his mind as he looked at his master who was going to demonstrate an aikido move for Bruce and Selina to learn.

Just seeing him perform the technique normally would have enabled Bruce to remember it forever since he had a photographic memory but that didn't let him learn it since remembering something and learning the skill from that memory was very different. If eidetic memory could allow someone to learn any skill they saw for the first time then Nikola Tesla would have been the greatest martial artist of all time.

So, Bruce concentrated and activated his Intuitive Genius ability and willed it to show him how Richard was performing the technique. He had no idea if this would work. Now, that he thought about it, he had never actually tried to use his power on a human before. He had always only used it on nonliving things.

For a few seconds after activating his power, he felt nothing, but then an influx of information suddenly almost overcame his mind. Everything slowed down as if the world itself was in slow motion and his vision changed allowing him to be able to perceive the flow of blood, breathing, muscular contractions, and joint movements of his master in front of him.

He saw each and every minute change in Richard's body as he looked like he was performing his technique in slow motion. And as he moved, it seemed like he was leaving a set of shadowy images in his previous positions making it even easier for Bruce to understand how the technique was being executed.

By the time Richard was done, Bruce knew that he now would be able to replicate this technique and perform it without much difficulty. The performance might not be as flawless as Richard who had been practicing it for years but it would definitely be way better than just 'above average'.

"Did you understand it?" Richard asked as he approached Bruce.

"F*ck, I am a demon slayer." Bruce couldn't help but mutter to himself, not realizing that his new master was now looking at him with a weird expression.

"Bruce, are you alright?" Even Selina had a confused expression on her face, even though she mostly remained silent during her training. She just liked to silently observe everything and absorb it all like a sponge.

That was one of the reasons why she appeared even better than Bruce in learning martial arts on the first day. He suspected that she might even have some kind of female lead halo or superhero halo or something that made her good at almost everything she did including gymnastics, yoga and even fighting.

'Tch. I think the previous Bruce took his superhero halo with him when he died because I didn't get anything of the sort.' He thought in his mind, annoyed at the original dead Bruce for some reason.

"It's nothing. Can I try it now master?" He asked, wanting to try out if it had really worked like how he had imagined it to be.

"Yeah, sure. Go ahead." He said, not expecting a lot from Bruce. In fact, Richard was both happy and disappointed at the same time that Bruce wasn't the one-in-a-million martial art talent that he expected him to be after he observed him on the first day because this meant that Richard would not have the fortune of teaching another martial art genius but it also meant that 'they' would not have much use for him in their evil machinations.

But sadly what happened next reversed both those emotions inside Richard making him question both his sanity and reality.

As soon as Bruce started, he was able to perfectly replicate the entire technique that Richard just demonstrated. Even the distribution of power in his muscles, the center of balance, the posture, the way he breathed during executing the technique, everything was the same as Richard as he had just shown them.

"Wow, that was awesome tiger. It was almost as good as master's." Selina praised Bruce.

"Thanks, kitty. I think I might give you a tough competition after all." He said as he smiled at Selina at which the girl herself nodded with a smile. She wasn't envious of Bruce at all but was genuinely happy for her best friend being so talented.

Richard agreed with her statement except for the fact that it was not 'almost as good' as his technique but equally as good as his technique.

Richard even wondered if Bruce was hiding his talent the day before but ultimately just chalked it up to stage fright that beginners have on their first day.

Bruce on the other hand was ecstatic. What he had just discovered would be a game-changer for him. He could use this to potentially be better at martial arts than the original Batman or even the Karate Kid.

He more or less had a discount Sharingan with this. He could just observe the strongest and most talented martial artists and pull a Taskmaster on their asses, copying and stealing all their techniques and adding them to his own roster.

Although, there was still a problem with this method. It was the fact that even though he could learn every martial art after seeing it just once, it still didn't change the fact that he would not have sufficient time to practice them enough to flawlessly integrate them into his fighting style or master them enough to incorporate them into his muscle memories.

To do all that, he needed time to practice. But he had previously thought of that too. He was prepared with a solution already.

Because that's where his newest invention came in. Another little by-product of his amazing power. His version of the NerveGear or more specifically the Amusphere from Sword Art Online. The device could use his memories as well as Cortana's processing power to transport his mind into a digital world simulation where his digital avatar could do anything he wanted to, including practice his skills.

And the best thing was that it allowed the user to accelerate his sense of time by up to a million times that of the time flow in the real world. Although Bruce decided to only use a 'ten times' constant time dilation for the time being so that his 'childish' mind didn't break under constant duress and stress.

He had even decided to let Selina use it as well for her training although both of their 'screen time' would only be limited to three hours in the real world since he didn't want their bodies to suffer or their minds to get addicted to the time-dilation since apparently that was a thing.

However, using it for three hours every day meant every technique that Richard would teach them once could be practiced by them both for thirty hours till the next day. It was ample time for them to completely master any technique, learn how to incorporate them flawlessly in a fight as well as practice them enough to make them part of his instincts.

Of course, physical fitness was still an issue but he knew that it was nothing a few serums and daily workouts couldn't solve.

'It seems that my future in martial arts is bright. I guess the age-old saying is right. If you ain't trying to cheat a little, you ain't likely to win much.' Bruce thought as he smiled to himself.

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