Self induced tor... I mean training.

Azamir followed the cheerful doctor to the far port side of the ship, where the med bay and what seemed to be dedicated lab equipment was. As they entered, Azamir could see all kinds of devices and tools, test tubes, and measuring equipment.

He also saw a converted medical bed into a device that seemed to support heavy machinery as the bed was attached to the ceiling by a large moving mechanical arm instead of the floor! The room around him was sterile and the buzzing of machinery was all around him.

"Please step onto the examination table." Doctor Simmons stood next to the suspended medical bed and motioned for Azamir to approach. Azamir complied, stepping up and turning around to lie on an incline, partially standing on the lip of the table.

The doctor then tapped a few keys on the terminal, and a digital scanner moved in front of Azamir and began taking detailed scans of his body. A green light shone from his head down to the bottom of his stomach before it switched to red and then back to green when it scanned below his thighs.

"Uhh, do I want to know ?" Azamir mumbled in the doctor's direction.

"High energy particles, my dear! You wouldn't want energy like that near your future kids would you?"

"My future kids? ... wait, how deeply did you scan my body!?"

"Why down to your molecular structure, my dear! I need to know all I can to make you the best version of you!"

What if she finds out about the system!?! Azamir started sweating bullets once the thought passed through his mind. Doc Simmons must have noticed because she smirked and joked with him.

"It's no use worrying about it, I already saw everything. Don't feel ashamed, though; you are a fine male specimen! I am very interested in your body!"

"My body! you can't have it!"

Doctor Simmons couldn't contain it any longer and busted up laughing in the middle of the scan. "Hahaha... Oh my dear, I am not interested in THAT part of your body. You are far too young for me and inexperienced to be worried about that. No, what I am interested in is how adaptable your body seems to be to changes! Why it's changing even now and you hardly notice!"

Azamir burned red with embarrassment at the doctor's antics before considering what she was saying. Changes? She was right; Azamir really felt nothing going on in his body other than a slight discomfort from the scanner going back and forth across his body. He even discreetly called up his status while the doctor was focused on her work.

[name: Azamir Ternum]

[age: 24 years]

[physical traits]

[Dexterity: 0.8, Strength 1.22, Vitality: 1.1]

[Mental Traits]

[Intelligence 0.9, Critical thinking 2.2, Will: ???]

[Skills]

[Tactics: Beginner II]

[Marksmanship: Beginner I]: Handguns - I, Rifles - I

[Analyze: Beginner I]

[notice: system charging 13%]

That's odd. Even after checking his own status many times lately, he never noticed a charging state for the system. What could that possibly mean? Azamir's brain churned in the background as it thought about what was going on while watching the scanner go back and forth across his body for what seemed to be about the sixth time now. What more was there to scan? Wait...

"This... is not just a scanner, is it?"

"Oh! How astute of you to notice. Yes, we finished scanning you within the first pass. Now, I am just bombarding your body with energy in preparation for training!"

"What? What does that do anyway!"

The doctor brightened immediately when Azamir expressed interest in her profession. "It primes your muscles for the upcoming exercise! This process will allow you to accelerate your training in weeks, what a bodybuilding campaign would accomplish in months!"

The scan ended, and the doctor led Azamir off the table to a regular machine weightlifting set-up. Azamir was instructed to lie on the bench and start with the ever-popular bench press.

"Don't worry about the weight, my dear. The machine exerts a force on you calibrated to what you are supposed to withstand."

"Okay, here I go then.." Azamir started doing sets of five until the machine was able to calculate the appropriate weight on his arms. The exercise was rather normal until the final rep on his bench press where it felt like he had a wildfire spread through his chest and arms! Blinded by the pain, he dropped the bar until the safety cut in, and the weight-lifting bar was reset automatically.

"YEAAARGH, WHAT F**k IS THIS!?!" Azamir howled in pain with every movement of his upper body.

"Oh, good. It kicked in finally. I was wondering how long it would take! This is quite unusual, as Borridin only took three sets before the effects kicked in! You should be proud you did five!" Doctor Simmons chirped.

Borridin? Oh damn, now Azamir knew why he looked like he had just gone through hell!

The doctor quickly sat him back down on the suspended examination table and injected him with a solution before beginning the scanning procedure once again. Azamir protested with grunts and groans until he noticed the burning pain regress and slowly go away. He was glad to be rid of the pain until he heard the doctor's next sentence.

"Good! It looks like you're ready for the next run! Isn't it wonderful you get a whole extra TWO hours? You will really benefit from this training procedure!"

TWO HOURS???? Azamir balked at the sentence. "You mean we will be doing this again?"

"Of course! we are systematically targeting your muscle groups and rapidly breaking them down and repairing them up again!"

Does she call this training?! This was sheer perpetual torture! Azamir might have even declined if not for another thing popping up in his view!

[System trait update: Str +.001 Dex +.0001]

Azamir's eyes widened, but he still despised the idea! "Stupid System!" He mumbled to himself.

He slid off of the examination table after he felt better and picked up more weights. "AAAAAAAAH!"

The process continued...

Felicity had Azamir work on all of the major muscle groups to establish a baseline of performance and exercise profile. In between exercise reps, she would inquire about his eating habits and suggest small changes or increases in certain minerals commonly found in targeted foods. She also helpfully told him that after a few more data sessions, she could formulate a scientific diet and supply it to the galley so they would have everything his body needed to get into ideal shape. 

Azamir left the med bay 3 hours later, unbelievably sore and barely able to maintain a steady gate without stumbling and grasping the wall to steady himself.

"Ta ta, my dear! Good work today! I shall see you in another two days!"

The words made Azamir grimace as he retreated before she was able to pull him back into the lab to poke and prod him more. He trudged his way to the mess hall of the ship to get a meal before finding his way back to their own cabin on the ship and passing out from exhaustion. It was quite a busy day!

The next four days passed in this manner: Azamir and the other trainees were subjected to various tests and training programs to get them to the baseline average of a mercenary candidate and become well-rounded. Azamir had to admit that while brutal and taxing, his efforts bore fruit and were not wasted on all the training.

Things finally changed during the fifth day of the schedule, and a new practice was implemented.

EXO-suit training.