DC: I am Bruce Wayne

Chapter 22: If you aren't cheating, you aren't trying

---

"If you can't do something, then don't. Focus on what you can."

-SHIROE, (LOG HORIZON)

---

Bruce had begun his training the very next day. Selina was training under three different teachers including Richard while Bruce just trained under Richard alone. He decided that he didn't want to train in stuff that he wasn't interested in or not gonna need in the future much in his line of 'work'. Batman was known for his combat and physical fitness, not for his yoga and gymnastics.

As for the level of agility, flexibility, and body-mind coordination that he was going to need to become an adept fighter, he would get it from his martial art and combat training.

Speaking of martial arts, Bruce found out that martial arts weren't exactly as easy as people imagined it to be. You were not told by your master to sweep the floor a thousand times and then after a couple of days, you become a master of fighting. No, the reality was much different. Training meant performing grueling and cruel sets of exercises and repeating even the simplest of techniques hundreds of times to master them and perform them without even the slightest of mistakes.

Prodigies weren't as common as seen in movies. And unfortunately, it turned out that Bruce himself wasn't a true prodigy or a fighting genius. After the first day of training, Richard just straight out told him with an expressionless face that he was better than the average which would have been a praise if it were in the normal world since the average assassin in DC could easily take on the best of martial arts geniuses in his previous world.

But here in the world of chi and unnatural and impossible combat techniques, he was just a guy who was slightly better than the average. And even that was probably because of him inheriting the original Bruce's better-than-average senses and brain. He might not have inherited the original's memories and stuff but he did get his physical body which included his potential to be the peak of what humanity could be. But even with all that, Bruce knew that he had more or less zero chance of being as good as Batman if he were to just depend on his tenacity as Batman did.

Why? Simple, because he lacked the iron-hard willpower and determination that the original had. Of course, this didn't mean that he was lacking in the department, he in fact had a lot of will and determination to survive and grow strong as well as protect the people that he cared about like Alfred, Selina, and the others but it was nothing compared to what the original Batman had. His willpower was like the strength of a mighty river in front of that of the original Batman which was like a raging ocean.

He knew that at this rate, he could become a decent respected martial artist within a decade or two, perhaps even better than some of the other heroes and vigilantes like the Question or Black Canary but that wasn't enough. He didn't just need to be better, he needed to be the best, and he needed to learn and master everything Richard had to offer within two years which was almost practically impossible since not only he wasn't that innately talented but also because he simply didn't have enough time to practice. He even lacked in the strength department since he was just eight years old.

So, Bruce decided to do the only thing he could do. He decided to cheat. He had already suspected that his talents in martial arts might not be the best and had begun preparing for it. A person's body might be a temple but it's the mind that's always in control of it. And Bruce was VERY proud of his mind.

So he finally made up his mind to start using his 'cheat' from the second day of training. He had already tried to learn the art of combat without using it to show respect to the hundreds of shonen protagonists he had watched in his previous life master everything from hard work alone but when he did it, all he got in return for this respect was the title of 'above average' from his master. So, he decided to just embrace the dark side and stop trying to be like a Shonen protagonist.