Riddles in the Dark, Part 1

“Ninety-five... Ninety-six...” Sam huffed.

His arms strained against the weight of the Argo VII’s backend.

“Ninety-seven... Ninety-eight...” he puffed.

With his fingers grasping tightly onto the rear bumper, Sam dropped and then re-raised the school bus until its backside was higher than his head. This was the final exercise of the latest version of his daily missions [EXPLOSIVE TRAINING MENU #3]. Unlike number one which focused on his entire body’s growth and number two which concentrated on weapons training, number three was geared solely toward increasing Sam’s physical strength and allowing him to make better use of his, in Chiron’s words, “Cheat of a power.”

Sam couldn’t disagree with that assessment as ‘Herculean’ made it possible for him to bridge the wide divide between power levels, a feat that no other low-level heroes have ever managed to do.

“Ninety-nine... One”—he pushed his arms up as high as they’d go—“hundred!”