Chapter 09 – Improvements and Awakening

[2009 - August]

Later that morning, after indulging in each other for a good amount of time, we had a short shower together and Wanda had some breakfeast.

I am not really a breakfeast-person, so I only had some juice.

Afterwards we went downstairs, where I started my grueling workout. Putting on weighted clothing, I began my routine on different machines, making sure to train all my muscle groups equally.

Over the past few weeks I have began to understand my growth ability much better and was even more amazed at the extent of its power. It essentially boiled down to this: Repeating an activity no matter what kind always yielded results, but the more focused and serious one trains or studies, the better the returns.

This meant that even with normal training my physique would reach a superhuman level in time, the same for my cognitive abilities.

After only two months of studying different subjects, my memory was near photographic, while my programming skills had reached a very advanced level.

It had been a walk in the park to transfer the money from all those accounts onto a new one I had made. A full six million Euros had been on these accounts, from which I used two to buy the studio, leaving me with a net worth of four million. Not much in the grand scheme of things, but more than enough for now.

I had a few plans to make more money, but it wasn't urgent and I would much rather spent my time improving my strength or with Wanda, than desperately trying to make some money.

My physical body has also made a great leap forward, though it was difficult to quantify the result, my lifting strength alone has reached 300kg. My flexibilty and endurance have also increased greatly.

My speed and reflexes were practically impossible to judge accurately for me, because they were already in the superhuman ranges, but by my estimate, my speed had reached roughly around MACH2 at the beginning, while now I felt like I could move twice as fast.

Still, without the right equipment and some tests, I could only guess. I did not mind that at all, simply making progress was enough for me. Even now I was the fastest man on the planet, getting faster could only be better.

Funnily enough, one of the things that had improved the most, besides my physique and programming, was my sexual prowress. While I had been very well-practiced in the field(thanks to experience in my 'last' life), through my ability to always improve, I had become kind of a master in the field. I had Wanda to thank for that, as she had been a very willing training partner and still was.

I, of course, had already hired a Martial Arts instructor and not just one. I had made an extensive online search to find two incredible fighters. One of them was a retired Shaolin Monk, who had a local dojo and would training train me in Wing Chun. The other was a Martial Arts Instructor with origins from the Philippines, who would teach me to handle the spear and twin daggers.

I had made them incredibly generous offers, which they had found impossible to refuse, though it would take a few days for the both of them to arrive. The contracts were already signed though and they would teach me all they knew in the next six months, which was the duration of the contract.

While sixth months didn't sound like much, I had two trumpcards that would make these six month be as effective as a dozen years of training. The first being my growth skill, which would let me see incredible progress through simple dedication and training. The second one was my Superhuman Speed.

It is roughly estimated that to master a skill 10 000 hours of training are necessary, with an extrem training schedule of 10hours a day, that translates to roughly three years of training. With the help of my Superspeed I could reach this goal in half a year, if I just speed up myself to six times the speed of a normal human. When in my Speed-Mode, time essentially flowed slower for me and I was going to take full advantage of that.

Of course keeping my Speed-Mode active for ten hours a day was nothing but a pipe dream right now, but two hours were absolutely possible. And with my growth talent, this time frame would get larger with practice.

Both of these abilities together should definitely make it possible for me to master the spear, dagger and unarmed combat in the shortest time possible,

So yes, my own training went really well and would only yield better results as time passed. Sadly Wanda's training did anything but.

Stopping my excersises and taking off the weighted clothing after these past few hours of training, I turned around and looked at one corner of the training room.

Wanda was there sitting on a gym mat with small objects with differing masses laid around her. She had her eyes closed and she was frowning in obvious frustration.

For the past two weeks she had at my instructions tried to lift these objects with her magic, but nothing ever happened. It seemed she needed a trigger to awaken her powers, like the scepter had done for her in the original timeline.

Using my Superspeed, I washed up quickly and approached her. Sitting, a few feet away, opposite to her.

"I think we can conclude that it won't work like that.", I said , making her open her eyes and stare at me with a accusing look in her eyes.

"What does that mean? Didn't you say that I had powers like your? Were you wrong?", Wanda questioned.

To be honest, she had every right to be angry at me. She had spent at least three hours everyday like this, trying to use powers she had absolutely no knowledge of.

"No, you have these powers. I am sure of that. But it seems you need a trigger to awaken them. In my visions, an artifact of considerable power was responsible for awakening your powers. So it makes sense that it would be incredibly hard to awaken them on your own.", I explained, while Wanda seemed to have enough from sitting on the floor and crawled over to me and sat down in my lap.

She sat herself down sideways and rested her head against my shoulder, looking up at me.

"Well, can you use your spear with the same effect?", she asked with obvious anticipation.

I had of course told her about the shape-shifting weapon I possessed, not only because she would have found out anyway, but also because I wanted to. The bracelets were also impossible to hide and could only be turned into tattoos, so she would have noticed them anyway.

"No, my weapon isn't like that artifact. It has no power of its own, besides its indestructibility and another ability. Nothing that would allow you to awaken your powers. B-", I clarified.

"So there is no solution?", Wanda asked downcast.

"You didn't let me finish. I don't think that an outside trigger is absolutely necessary. This power is a part of you like your hands or eyes are, but you just never used it and don't know how to find it. But even a blind person would instinctively close his eye every few moments.", I replied.

"So, what you mean to say is that we should force an instinctive reaction, so I can get a sense for this power?", Wanda concluded sharply.

"Exactly.", I smiled down at her, proud at her catching on so quickly and directly rewarded her with a quick kiss.

"And how do we do that?", Wand questioned after our lips parted again.

"I am sure that you could summon your powers in a moment of extreme distress to defend yourself, but we are obviously not going to do that.", I answered, while standing up with her.

She had done that once already with the second bomb that had been dropped on us, after the first had killed our parents.

That second should have killed us. It should have gone off, but Wanda had subconciously used her powers to save us both. She had somehow turned that perfectly functioning bomb into a dud.

Stepping away from her, I moved to a nearby cabin, while Wanda stated sarcastically.

"I would also like to avoid being thrown into an enclosure for aligators."

"We'll call that Plan B.", I quipped back, before continuing, "But I think there is a much simpler solution to our problem. Do you trust me, Wanda?"

Turning back to Wanda, who looked at the handgun I pulled from a box in the cabin.

I had taken the gun from one of the gangmembers I had murdered, thinking that it might come in handy some time in the future. It seemed that time had come.

Taking a deep breath, Wanda answered: "I do, with my life. But, please don't tell me you plan to shoot me?"

Chuckling at her suspicious tone, I answered back: "No, I would never hurt you intentionally."

Lifting the gun to my head, I continued, while Wanda's expression shifted to horror and shock.

"Though I am sure, this will work just as good."

"Are you out of your mind?! You are not going to shoot yourself, that's insane!", Wanda shouted while moving towards me with her eyes set ablaze in anger.

I knew something like that would happen, but I didn't plan to back down. This was indeed the best option for success and not even really dangerous. I could dodge a bullet fired by such a gun in my sleep, but Wanda did not know that, as she didn't know how fast I truly was.

This lack of knowledge was the spark needed to ingnite her potential.

So as she stormed towards me, I simple used my Superspeed to reappear a few meters away.

"I have seen your powers, stopping a bullet is childsplay with the strength slumbering withing you. I trust that you will save me.", I said with conviction.

And I meant every word. Her powers easily rivalled that of an Infinity Stone, she just had to unearth that potential. Her Chaos Magic was practically unrivaled with enough training. My own Superspeed was a joke against Wanda's potential.

"NO! Stop with your visions! You don't know if the things you saw are reality! What if they were just dreams?!", Wanda cried out in a mixture of anger, distress and worry, having turned towards my new position.

"I trust you.", I said before pulling the trigger, while simultaneously entering my Speed-Mode and accelerating my thoughts to the maximum.

*PENG*

"N-!!", Wanda screamed in horror, her hand oustreched.

I could see the terror on Wanda's face clearly at my actions and while it felt horrible to do this to her, I did it to her benefit. I planned to enter all kinds of dangerous environments and conflicts in the future, and I knew that leaving her behind was not an option.

Wanda would be a target for all those who wished me harm, so she had to unearth her strength.

And as I observed her closely, while moving out of the bullets path, my hypothesis proved to be correct. Wanda's eyes changed to a red colour, while red energy was being emitted by her whole body.

"-O!!"

I slowed down my perception of time again and was directly frozen in place for a second, while the handgun practically crumbled under Wanda's telekinetic powers.

Wanda's fiery figure turned in my direction, her eyes glowing in relief before she promplty fainted. I caugth her with my Superspeed, before she could fall to the floor.

Speaking of the floor, the mats on which Wanda had stood, had been disintegrated by the energy she had emitted.

I knew from the memories I received, which had a few mentions of Wanda's powers, that it was normal for her to have collapsed.

The shock of awakening her power, was too great of a burden to her mind to deal with in a conscious state. It would take a few hours, before she would wake up again.

Only picturing her anger at me, made me dread that moment a bit. Still, my method worked and I would just have to deal with her anger.

That's the least I could do for forcing such terror on her. Hopefully her screaming and scolding would lessen the guilt I felt for doing that to her.

Carrying her upstairs towards our bed, I placed her down, before joining her. Embracing her tightly, while she rested.