The match was to be in one month, and Lester was scrolling through message boards in the villain app, looking for ways to train for the upcoming fight. The problem was that, if one had superpowers, one could not simply go to the local martial arts place and start training with normal people. He needed a place where he didn't accidentally kill someone. Also, some instructions could be of great use. The biggest problem with all this was that it was expensive. But still, he needed some help. He had no other choice but to win the match. His life was literally hanging by a thread here.

  As he looked, Lester found another announcement.

  Greetings, fellow fighter,

  If you are looking to take on the world, I am humbly offering you my expertise. I, Tuck the Fist, am a city-level champion of the Super Brawl Circuit and am now looking to train the next champion, which might just be you.

  For only 500$ an hour with a two-hour minimum, I will make you a fighting machine without equal.

  Br. Tuck the Fist

  Lester considered the message. He did need the help. And this Tuck guy seemed to be on the more affordable side, with seemingly having some experience in fighting in the ring. He might as well try it. All he would lose was one thousand, which was a lot of money, but if this guy could actually help him even a little, it would be worth it. And also, according to a quick search, this Fist fellow had indeed won the Recalm City Super Brawl Circuit once over thirty years ago.

  ***

  The next day, Lester was at Tuck the Fist's fighting gym. It was a simple room with some punching bags and a boxing ring.

  As he stood in his cargo shorts and t-shirt in the middle of the boxing ring, Lester observed Tuck the Fist. Tuck was looking him up and down, seemingly taking his measure. Tuck was an old but sturdy-looking fellow with fairly large but not quite comically big hands.

  After a while of observing, Tuck said, "So, you went flying through the cage bars."

  Lester nodded, having just told Tuck about his powers and about his last match. Lester had decided that, if he was to try this for real, he had to put some faith in this Fist dude.

  "And you think you can control your power a bit better now, preventing what happened from happening again."

  "Yeah, as long as I don't come across someone like Derek Stainless."

  Tuck grunted. "Yes, I've seen the hero fight. That young man might be the champion of Recalm City one day."

  Lester didn't say anything, but his thoughts returned to Derek Stainless and the Quest he had in the Villain Interface. Maybe one day he would face Derek again. But for now, Derek was fighting in the city-level circuit while he was fighting down in the street-level one.

  "You're not limited to water," Tuck said.

  "Huh?" Lester's eyebrow rose in question.

  "Your powers. They are tied to your will and your belief. That means they are somewhat malleable." Tuck went to the edge of the ring and reached down under it, where he took out two punching mittens, designed to take in hits. They were not regular boxing equipment, though, as they had a metallic sheen. Tuck smacked them together with a loud clunk followed by a metallic ring. "These here are made from a special tinker-made metal, much tougher than any normal steel. There aren't many people who can damage these." He lifted them up for Lester to hit. "Now, we're starting the training."

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  As the training went on, Lester punched the two metal mittens in Tuck's hands, making them clang. As Tuck had instructed, Lester was focusing on wanting to turn his hands harder. And as he went on with the training, the recent memory of the transforming sock popped into his mind. The sock had, in a strange way, changed into water after he'd thought of eating it. But in this situation, he could not eat the steel mittens. And even if he could eat the mittens, that would, by the logic of the sock, only grant him the ability to turn the mittens into water, which was not the goal of the training.

  Tuck dodged to the side, causing Lester's fist to swish through empty air, while at the same time, retaliating with a sweep of a metal mitten, hitting Lester in the side of the head and knocking him down on the ring floor.

  Lester felt the world sway. It had been really quick, and now there was a ringing. It was either from the steel mittens or from his head. Likely from the steel mittens. His head didn't have any metal in it. Not unless you count iron, which was a metal in the blood. He'd probably read that from somewhere.

  As Lester was getting up, Tuck said, "Try dodging. It'll help you in the upcoming fight."

  Lester nodded, but the thought was still bothering him. If he had metal in his body already, he didn't have to eat the mittens.

  "I am steel," Lester yelled and threw a punch at one of the mittens, hitting it with a clank and a ring. Hearing the sound, Lester turned to look at his fist. There, on top of his knuckles, his flesh had turned to gray metal.

  You have gained a new power: Metal Body (Lesser)

  Lester stared at the text only he could see. Metal Body was like Liquid Body, but there was the lesser tag on it, which probably meant that it was not as powerful.

  Lester noticed that Tuck was looking at him strangely. Maybe he should not read empty air while others were around. People might get suspicious.

  "So, what does it say?" Tuck said.

  "What?"

  "The thing only you can read. You're not the first super to have stuff only they can see."

  "Well." Lester thought of it for a second. There wasn't much harm in telling Tuck some of what was going on. "It says I gained a new power called Metal Body, but it has a tag that says, lesser."

  Tuck grunted and nodded. Then he said, "Let's see where we can take this new power of yours."

  As they resumed training, Lester felt that he'd missed something. He'd gained an additional power, but there had been something else that didn't make sense.

  "How were you able to hit me?" Lester said, "Usually, when something hits me really hard, I turn into water."

  Tuck let out a slight smile. "It seems to me that we have found a weakness with your powers. In trying to make your fists harder, you managed to turn off your liquid powers."

  ***

  As he continued training, Lester was glad he had put some points into his Vitality stat. It gave him the ability to train all day. He still, for some reason, had to sleep. And if he exhausted his energy, he had to sleep a lot.

  The focus of the training was on power control and fighting skills. Lester learned a lot about fighting from Tuck. There were a lot of things that went into super fights. Knowing your opponent's weaknesses was one. Unfortunately, his opponent wasn't announced yet. But he himself did have a weakness now. He could turn off his Liquid Body power's automatic protection for a while. And he had to do it if he wanted to use his Metal Body powers. Something he would have to take into account in the coming fight.

  The Metal Body power, Lester was glad, turned out to be easier to learn and control than his water abilities. Probably partly because they were similar in a way to his old abilities. Also, Metal Body was limited. He could only turn small parts of his body into metal. For example, his fists. But smacking one in the face with metal was totally on another level.

  In addition to the power stuff, Lester also learned from Tuck about normal fighting. How to strike and block, move around, and keep your distance. Stuff that he would definitely try to utilize in the coming fight.

  One month of training, Lester knew, wasn't ideal. One could even consider it to be stupidly short for such a career-defining fight. But in the end, he had done his best, and he was ready to face what was to come.

  Now, on the day of the fight, Lester was sitting on a bench in the locker room of the Super Brawl Circuit event, and he checked his outfit once more. Cargo pants and a t-shirt. It wasn't really villainous-looking. But this match wasn't about looking good. It was about winning.

  Lester clapped his hands. "Time to go." He got off the bench and headed out of the locker room.