Perilous Arc |AU|

Competitive Hot Shots [Chap. 21]

"GIVE ME ANOTHER!"

Elm's voice grated on me. Her face was leaned right over mine as she shouted, and she was looking down with a dangerous smile. I steadied myself and made my move. The steel weights that just barely touched my chest moved again, climbing steadily as the pectorals in my chest burned and twitched from the strain. Blood rushed through my veins and I felt every pump, only to have the feeling renewed when the weight hit the top and I released my breath. I took another and let the weight down slowly, feeling every contraction.

"I KNOW YOU HAVE MORE, ARC! KEEP GOING!" The specialist belted out with excitement. With a sheen of sweat on my skin I obliged.

It's been two weeks since the Strength Serum was administered. The experience was something I'll never forget. I still have brief glimpses of the pain I endured as my genetic codes were amplified by the injection. It felt like magma coursed through every cell in my body, charring them and moving on to the next. After many minutes of suffering through the experience I eventually passed out, and that was for the better. I was out for about a day and when I woke up it was straight to medical evaluations.

The first thing I noticed upon regaining consciousness was a considerable strength increase. At first it seemed uncontrollable, but as the days passed by I figured out how to control myself. Before the first day was over I'd ripped a shower handle off the wall, snapped about twenty forks in half and left handprint depressions in various surfaces all over the Atlesian facilities. There were a series of tests conducted that tested my starting limits, and I can say they were far above what I could have done before. From what I'd gathered during the explanations from Ironwood and Polendina, the changes would come exponentially. So over time I would get even stronger. That honestly blew my mind.

I completed an additional sixteen reps as Elm hovered over me shouting, then called it quits. I rested the weights on my chest briefly before pivoting to sit upright on the flat bench. The 250-pound dumbbells slammed onto the floor of the training room with a loud bang, and I took a second to simply huff after the DB Press. A firm hand smacked my back, and I glanced at the perpetrator.

"Ha! You're getting strong fast, Jaune!" Elm Ederne laughed, smacking my back a few more times as I looked at the offending hand balefully. "I knew you had it in you, though I'm surprised. It took me months before I could touch the 250's... though I was sick initially, wasn't I?"

"That procedure is something else. Before I feel like I would struggle to even grab those." I breathed out, rotating my shoulder and feeling how the well-worked fibers in my chest contorted with the movement.

"Perhaps not, Jupiter. I'm sure your semblance would let you press these prior to the injection with ease!" She teased, slapping my back again for good measure before moving away.

"Jupiter my ass..." I grumbled as she snickered. Despite my efforts, Elm eventually heard of Winter's amusement at the title, and she decided to join in just to tease me. It wasn't all bad though. Her interest in both teasing me and in our matching Serums had her mentoring me over the past two weeks, something that inevitably led to her dragging me to one of the various training rooms.

I've developed a taste for lifting, surprisingly. My enhanced body has taken to it like a fish to water.

"Enough procrastinating, Jaune. We're moving to INCLINES!" She shouted in my ear excitably. I simply scowled at the woman and got a cheeky smile in return.

"I don't know why you waste your time with this guy, Elm." A familiar voice said snottily. I stood from the bench and turned to look, tugging at the stringer my training partner had convinced me to wear. Predictably it was Harriet, leaned against the side of a cable machine and glowering at me with crossed arms. I just quirked an eyebrow at her and she scowled.