Chapter 4: Dragon

Edward found the name to be a little silly, but it was a martial art dojo, so he kind of expected the name to be… well, something like that.

But he was pretty sure this dojo was a good one, first it was situated in Manhattan, so that added some credit to it. Well, to be honest that's about all Edward knew about the dojo, it was situated in Manhattan.

Now that he was here, Edward had to admit it really looked like a Chinese dojo, not that he ever went to China, but if the movies he saw were accurate, then they looked pretty much the same.

The doors were closed, obviously, they were still in February and it was quite cold out there. Opening the door, he heard shouts inside, and with a glance he saw it came from a bunch of trainees, five of them, led by an Afro-American teacher.

On the side, was a red haired man in what seemed to be his thirties, meditating. When Edward pushed open the door, the five trainees, who looked quite young, all turned their heads to look at him.

This seemed to anger their teacher who barked "Stay focused!" The five were scared into turning their heads back toward their instructor and got back into their training. Unfortunately for them, they already made their mistake as their sensei added "You will double the intensity as punishment."

As he said that, he walked toward Edward, his earlier fierce face disappeared as he asked "Can I help you?"

Edward was surprised by how quick the teacher's face changed, but he still responded "I would like to be trained in martial arts?"

The teacher nodded and asked "Why?"

Edward tilted his head and repeated "Why?" The teacher once again nodded, so Edward replied "To defend myself." The teacher looked straight into Edward's eyes, and after a few seconds he said "Richard, I think I found a student for you."

The red haired man, who had been meditating earlier, suddenly got up and walked over. He was shorter than the black teacher, and looked weaker. Still, they addressed each other as equals, so Edward made sure not to underestimate him.

Richard, the red haired teacher, didn't even look at Edward's body, and instead looked straight into his eyes. After a few seconds of a staring contest, he said "You can choose by yourself. I teach how to use internal strength, while Ben here teaches external strength. Whoever you choose, it will be teacher Dragon and teacher Tiger for you if you accept either of our teachings."

Internal? External? Edward could understand the last one, external training should be training the muscles, but what about internal? Was it a training of the mind?

Since he didn't want to regret his decision later on, he simply asked.

Richard, or Dragon, replied "External Strength is the strength of the body, Tiger's goal will be to make your body as strong as it can be, and then use that strength to overcome your opponents. As for Internal Strength, I will teach you how to use your strength to 100%."

Edward tilted his head, why not just take both? Seemingly reading his thoughts, Tiger smiled and said "Either discipline is extremely hard to master, so trying to do both at the same time would stunt anyone's growth. Moreover, if you prove to be talented enough in Internal Strength, you may not need External training… You don't have to make a decision right away anyway."

Dragon sent a glare Tiger's way, but the man shrugged it off and continued smiling at Edward.

Edward nodded, and after a few seconds of hesitation he said "I would like to learn how to master Internal Strength, Teacher Dragon."

He tried his best to replicate the Chinese martial art greetings by cupping his fists, like he saw in the movies. Richard nodded at him and said "Tuition will be free, come with me so we can talk."

Edward looked at the two a little unsure, tuition was free? What kind of dojo was this? But Ben, or Tiger, nodded at him, so he walked behind Richard toward the back of the dojo.

There, the two sat on a tatami, Edward took off his shoes first of course. Dragon finally looked at Edward's body and asked "How old are you?"

"24."

"Are you still a student or are you working? If so, what do you do?"

"I already work as a biologist at Oscorp. I work from 8 am to 6 pm, Monday to Friday."

Richard finally nodded and said "That leaves us enough time. How long do you need to sleep usually?" Edward replied five hours, so Richard added "Good, good. I want you here at 6.30 pm on week days from tomorrow onward. Bring lunch."

Edward nodded, and Richard said "You can go… expect a harsh training." Edward smiled and said "Of course, teacher."

And like that, his training with the Hidden Dragon started. Well, that's how Edward believed Richard called himself. Hidden Dragon, Crouching Tiger, and the two call themselves Dragon and Tiger… maybe he thinks a little too much sometimes, doesn't he?

Anyway, the training was indeed hard, harder than he thought it would be, but Edward wasn't one to give up at the first difficulty. Moreover, Edward could feel get stronger and more skilled as the days passed.

There was also his power, at first when he spared against his teacher or the other trainees under Tiger, he didn't feel his instinct like he did before. However, when Dragon began training him in fighting while having his eyes bandages, his instinct began awakening, allowing him to dodge many of the strikes.

Obviously, this had greatly surprised his teacher, fighting while blinded was not an easy skill to master, and yet Edward caught on it easily. When he was asked how, Edward had decided to be truthful about it, and said he had a weird kind of instinct that allowed him to feel attacks that came at him.

Unlike what he thought, Richard didn't think it came from a mutation though, and instead said he had a great affinity towards Chi. After some questions of his own, Edward learned that Chi was an energy present in every living being, and was also known as vital energy.

This was something out of Internal or External training though, and couldn't be trained in conventional ways.

This was quite hard to catch on, and seemed to be a little unreal, wouldn't people know if they had an inner energy within themselves? But what his teacher did next had shocked him.

His fist glowed a little as he bent a steel plate with a single punch. A. Steel. Plate. And it wasn't a thin one, it was at least ten centimeters thick.

So Chi was a thing. A big one. And apparently, he was talented in this aspect? It wasn't Chi itself that allowed him to dodge those strikes apparently, but his ability to feel Chi. His ability allowed him to feel the Chi of nearby living beings, and he could predict their actions ahead of time thanks to the changes brought in their Chi with their every action.

As it turned out, Chi was the thing that had been improving his life too, as he somehow has a more active Chi than others, which allows him to use Chi Sense, heal faster and sleep lesser. Enhancing one's Chi would also strengthen their body, which was the alternative Tiger had been talking about.

A strong body would have a strong Chi, and a strong Chi would make a body strong. However, cultivating Chi was something that needed talent, and not everyone could do it.

He had to admit, joining his teacher probably was the best decision he ever made, or he probably wouldn't have ever understood his powers on his own.

However, his instinct, or as his master called it, Chi Sense, wasn't developed in the least right now. Edward was only able to trigger it when he was absolutely calm, and it wouldn't even activate every time. The first time it had been in a hyperactive state because he used it for the first time, but now it was hard to have it activate for three attacks in a row.

Despite his superficial mastery of it, Chi Sense meant he was made for Internal Strength, and so his training intensified, especially his mind training. Dragon had taught Edward Chinese Meditation techniques, which was a Chi training method, and he once again proved to be talented in Chi as he mastered the technique with ease and in less than an hour.

And so as the days passed, not only did he learn how to fight, his body was getting stronger, and he was learning how to use every bit of his strength while trying to control his Chi.

Of course Chi wasn't anything absurd, it could only allow one's body to reach it's limits.

Using Dragon's words, his body hit the limit of human potential, just like Captain America back in the day.

It was common knowledge nowadays that the Super Soldier Serum which Captain America took allowed him to reach the peak of humanity, his entire body had reached the peak of it's potential.

In other words, a Chi Master who managed to harness Chi and had strengthened their body to the limit, would have attained the body of Captain America through sheer training.

Moreover, Dragon, who had reached the status of a Chi Master, was sure there was a step after Chi Master. The problem with a Chi Master was that he was actually still unable to control his Chi by himself, his strengthened Chi allowed him to heal faster, and had strengthened his body, but he couldn't use his Chi as a weapon or to heal others by himself.

According to him, the only way for someone who is a Chi Master or lesser to use their Chi actively is to either have a special ability, such as a mutation, or to have a mystical artefact that would manipulate the Chi in the user's stead.

Dragon knew that because he had one such artefact himself, the Dragon Fang allowed Dragon to focalize his Chi on parts of his body to increase his defence or attacks.

Back to the Meditation Technique, it was truly quite magical. It allowed him to strengthen both his body and his mind at the same time, but also provided rest. He now no longer needed to sleep, as meditation had even better effects than sleeping.

Of course, actively training his body had better effects than meditation to strengthen his body. His training was also not just making his body and mind stronger, he also trained in martial arts, to now be able to defend himself should he feel the need to, but more importantly master his own strength.

He was learning plenty of martial arts at the same time, to both learn fighting with and without weapons, and against armed and unarmed opponents. He was quite talented at fighting too, and he was making some progress everyday.

Now, he didn't do fighting all day. His training also had consequences on his work, good ones. Fighting first allowed him to disperse all the stress he accumulated at work, and he would even find himself making theories in his mind while training.

Sometime, Dragon's training would be simple and harsh, he would have to persevere through pain for the longest time possible, to train his will, and in those moments, thinking about his work did wonders.

His newly strengthened mind and concentration thanks to the meditation technique also sharpened his mind to an extent, and he found himself faster than his computer sometimes.

As for his private life… he still had quite some free time, as he worked and trained only from Monday to Friday, meaning he had his whole week-end to himself. He would spend most of his week-ends on his console, or outside with friends.

Sometimes it would be with Diana, sometimes with his assistants. And like that, three months passed without a hitch. Unfortunately, just as he feared, things started getting more eventful at the start of the month of May.