With a "snap!" Peter Parker's fist was caught in Robert's grasp. Peter's expression changed as he struggled to withdraw his fist from Robert's grip, only to find it securely held, his efforts to break free futile.
Instinctively, Peter threw his other fist towards Robert, but it met the same fate as the first, unable to escape Robert's grip…
"This…" Peter, coming back to his senses, stared blankly at Robert, not quite understanding the purpose of Robert asking him to throw punches. Was it to prove the gap between them? But Peter had already sensed Robert's strength from the intense sense of crisis earlier; there was no need for further demonstration.
"Hmm, much stronger than a super soldier, but still a gap compared to animal warriors and demons. I wonder if it's possible to improve further…" Robert released Peter's fists and said after a brief analysis.
The power Peter displayed was consistent with his qi, but that was just the first aspect Robert wanted to test.
"Let's move on to the next test…" Robert looked at Peter and nodded, "Do you remember how you were clinging to the wall earlier? Try it again, let me see."
"Try again? Here?" Peter hesitated, looking around the wilderness, noting the lack of walls for him to cling to.
"No worries, climbing walls and trees are similar, go ahead and try. After all, it's deserted here, no one will notice," Robert waved his hand dismissively, pointing to a tree nearby.
"…" Peter fell silent upon hearing Robert's suggestion. If not for Robert's superior strength, Peter might have doubted his reliability. Such a casual test seemed too arbitrary.
As Peter began to accept his superpowers, the presence of a more powerful Robert and the absent Kara made him realize that superpowers might not be as rare as he thought, just previously out of his reach.
Thus, despite his silence, Peter obediently approached the tree, attempting to climb it.
"Remember how you climbed the wall," Robert reminded from the side. "Compared to a smooth wall, trees should be easier to climb, so you should be able to do it more effortlessly than you're showing now!"
Indeed, Peter was not climbing the tree with ease but rather awkwardly, prompting Robert to offer some guidance.
Despite Robert's advice, Peter couldn't find the feeling he had while climbing walls, ending up even more clumsy, clueless on how to proceed.
Seeing Peter's performance, Robert shook his head in resignation, then suddenly exerted his qi pressure on Peter.
"Whoa!" Peter exclaimed, his body uncontrollably shooting up to the treetop, he looked down at Robert warily, "Hey, can you not scare me like that? At least give me a heads up!"
"I did warn you," Robert shrugged, seriously adding, "If you can't control your powers and adapt to changes around you, attending school normally will be difficult. I can suppress my qi to calm you, but Kara can't, unless you want to transfer schools again. Plus, being unable to control your powers can easily lead to destruction or harm to others."
"So, first get used to your current state, adapt to the feeling of your powers being stimulated, then try to see if you can spin webs…"
"Hey, hey, hey! I was just bitten by a spider, and though I gained superpowers, I didn't become a spider. Why are you so fixated on me spinning webs?" Peter, initially trying to suppress his alarm and seriously contemplating, protested upon hearing Robert bring up web-spinning again.
"Without experimenting, how do you know you can't spin webs? Besides, getting superpowers from a spider bite, why not an additional web-spinning ability?" Robert earnestly countered, spreading his hands.
"Ah, this…" Faced with Robert's counter, Peter was at a loss for words, hesitatingly murmuring, "But spinning webs… from where? My mouth, or some weird place?"
Peter grew more uncomfortable as he spoke, recalling that spiders spin webs from their abdomen or rear, which clearly wouldn't apply to him.
"Did you also gain your powers from a bite?" Peter suddenly asked, probing Robert. "Can you spin webs too? Why else would you be so interested in this?"
"Our situations are different from yours, neither Kara nor I were bitten by anything. I think you can spin webs because spiders naturally do, and since you've acquired climbing abilities similar to a spider's, it's normal to have web-spining abilities too," Robert reasoned, looking at Peter.
"It probably won't come from an awkward place. Why not try flicking your hand?"
Robert had a vague recollection of the name Peter Parker but hadn't thought much of it since Peter's qi was weaker than an average person's. However, now that Peter mentioned gaining superpowers from a spider bite, Robert suspected he might be Spider-Man, somewhat influenced by a recent encounter with Batman...
Though Robert wasn't deeply familiar with Spider-Man's specific abilities, he knew about Spider-Man's wall-climbing and web-swinging abilities, but not exactly where the webs came from, certainly not from any indecent place...
"Flick my hand, how could that be?" Peter, upon hearing Robert's suggestion, instinctively flicked his hand, then felt something, continuously adjusting his motion.
With a "swoosh!" as Peter pressed his thumb against his middle and ring fingers and flicked outward, a strand of white web shot from his wrist towards Robert.
"Huh!" Facing the incoming web, Robert pointed a finger, and a burst of flame shot out, incinerating the web completely.
___________________
(Support with power stones, comments or reviews)
If you guys enjoy this story, In support me on Patreon and get access to +200 advance Chapters
Read Ahead
Patreon.com/INNIT