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Vine wiped sweat off her forehead. It splashed onto the soft, slightly bouncy, floor off her already-drenched arm. It felt pointless, her loose black top was already saturated. But the custom-made leggings seemed to be absorbing the sweat so at least her legs were comfortable. She studiously avoided looking to her left and at the mirror, she didn't want to see her hair.

But as awful as she felt, her training partner made it look like Vine was just on a light stroll. Biblia looked like she had gone through hell, specifically the fire-and-brimstone variety. Her artificially tanned white skin literally gleamed with sweat, and her formally long, thin face looked especially skeletal as she took deep heaves of breath.

So as much as Vine's muscles ached, and her head grovelled for any sort of sustenance, she passed a water bottle over. "Come on, we've got two more sets of the same. Keep it up, girl."

"UUURRRRGGGGGH!"

"If you've got enough breath to moan at me you have enough to fight on!" Vine teased, before getting whipped in the face by a ponytail of sweat-matted blonde hair.

Biblia just scowled at her before throwing her hands up in defeat. "Why are we, like, even doing strength training, anyway? We're the support team!"

"Hey, sometimes we do cleanup work-"

"Sure, we really need them biceps to deal with, what was it? Oh yeah, goons that Viper has paralyzed, or Superia has knocked out, or whatever."

"-and when we do solo stuff, too. Anyway, that's not the point."

"If our heroine work isn't the point, then WHY am I in a gym at, like, half past nine in the morning tearing my arms off with these dumbbells?"

Vine sighed. "Isn't your power the ability to absorb information? I've already explained to you."

Biblia beamed back at her like a child caught out by a teacher on some minor, nonpunishable infraction. "And it's because I can get everything I need by touching a book or whatever that I don't bother, like, remembering stuff!"

"... Why don't you just touch a book about fitness?"

"Still no long term memory." Biblia leaned against the back wall and made a 'dumb blonde' face. "Besides this is, like, some all-new science from the Prof, innit? Not as if she's written the book on it yet."

So she did remember something. Vine realised that this was probably just a ploy to trick her into explaining the science behind it again and earn a few precious minutes of respite from the feeling of weights in her hands.

It worked, though, it was super rare to have the opportunity to show off that she actually understood what La Profesora was on about.

"Okay, for a start, it's not really physical training. Well, it is, obviously." Vine glanced down at her own aching arms with a slight pang of, well, pain. "But the point is that it's going to train our resistance."

"I'm no expert but I don't think this is what resistance training is..."

"No, our mental resistance. You see, the brain isn't just an isolated organ, right? It's the central point of a body-wide nervous system. All cognition is affected by your body and is even expressed through it. Emotions all come with physical elements, like when your blood flow increases if you're angry, or you go cold when you're scared. But the body affects more complex processes, too. Studies have found things like people reacting better to things if you force them to smile, and even that you feel more attraction to people who mirror your bodily actions."

"... Aaand that has, like, what to do with our work?"

"Because the prof thinks we could apply the same principle to mental resistance, as I said. It would mean we could get brainwashed a bit less!"

"I am kinda sick of being on cleanup and, like, walking right in to a hypnospiral room. But how does it work, exactly?"

"So you know how you build muscle?"

"... Pretend that I don't."

"Well, basically, when you do something your muscles can't quite cope with, say lifting a weight heavier than your comfortable limit, the fiber gets damaged. But then when you're resting, the fiber knits together to repair itself, this means thatyour muscles become intertwined and, hence, stronger. And if we are aware of that fact, Prof thinks it will increase our mental resistance along with it. These weights, and this whole gym actually, are all especially developed to enable embodied resistance training."

"So, what, if we keep lifting here we'll be harder to hypnotise?"

"Exactly. Just focus, feel the burn, and feel your body and mind get stronger."

Biblia knocked back another mouthful of the ionised water. "Okay, fine, let's go."

Vine smiled. Time for round two of three. She just needed to focus.

At first it was easy, she could easily keep her mind resting on the metronomic motion of her arms and the visceral strain of her biceps as they bent and her triceps as she lowered the weights back down. With every push and pull, she visualised her muscles weaving together into an even stronger web, and her thoughts followed suit, hardening and reinforcing each other.

It became more difficult when the burn truly started. Faster than the first set, as well. An itch crawled up her back as her arms felt gradually more heavy. Both sensations dueled for her attention, but she ignored both pleas. Her mind was stronger, her thoughts reinforced. They stayed on the sensation. She resisted the pull of other thoughts.

And then as the endorphins dulled the pain, she became even more resolute. She was getting stronger in body and mind. She started to leave behind the gym. Her muscles faded away, Biblia's own constant groans of effort became whispers on the edge of reality.

Vine was without thought. On her face was a look of pure determination. She would finish the training.

Meanwhile, in her underground laboratory, La Profesora picked up a phone.

"Are your colleagues undertaking the training now?" The voice on the other end of the line had no time for pleasantries.

"Yes, they're in the gym as we speak. I'll report on the results soon." The technological heroine answered professionally and deferentially.

"And you're sure this new research is valid?"

"Well, no, actually. The evidence for this kind of thing is infamously difficult to replicate, so I'm not even sure of the theoretical basis. But, in any case, it should still have the desired effect. They will become more resistant to control, if only because of a combination of the placebo effect, and their mental routine during the process acting as a kind of visualisation training."

"Good, you're confident that they will complete the course to satisfaction, then?"

"Yes, I'm positive that they will exhibit greater resistance to standard hypnotic techniques in the post-intervention trial."

There was a short pause. "You remember my command was to make them join you, don't you?"

"Of course, Ma'am, but it's still important to make them resistant to attempts by villains to take over their minds."

"Certainly, but I expected you to also make them amenable to my own control."

"Oh, yes Ma'am, they will be." La Profesora also paused, trying to think of an explanation. "The muscle metaphor I explained to you at first, we can extend that. While the existing fiber connects and grows stronger, new fiber must still grow on top of it, growing the muscle in size, right?"

"Yes, but didn't you say that metaphor may not even play out in reality?"

"I did say that, Ma'am. However, it's still useful to think of it like that. I am improving their resistance, but I do not intend to break through their new resistance. Instead, the conditioning will essentially grow on top of it. The dumbbells emit subsonic waves, so as they focus on their resistance visualisation, new subconscious thoughts will form. And they will be of obedience to you."

"Ahh, I see. So, like with muscle growth, it will be imperceptible at first?"

"Indeed. But just as they will wake up one day, look in the mirror, and see the muscular gains they have made, they will also wake up and think the thoughts I want them to."

"They will look in the mirror, and they will see an iron-willed, toned-bodied, and obedient slave."

"Yes, Ma'am. It will take a few more sessions to build up, I'm sure, but I'm confident they will be just as obedient as me by the end of the trial."

"Good, keep me updated, slave."

"Of course, Ma'am."

La Profesora put the phone back down, her lips curled into a blank grin.

---

We take a brief departure from the main Vine storyline because an image was posted on a Discord server which was, admittedly, a bit too perfect to ignore, and a certain SvettaK92 was quite insistent that it should be a priority. And I know others like to see a bit of fitness-nosis, so here we are.

I don't actually have much more to say here, I've already stretched my limits of knowledge about both muscle growth and embodiment in the story! So, hope you enjoy the subtler manip and the shorter (I think?) story!

Description

Vine wiped sweat off her forehead. It splashed onto the soft, slightly bouncy, floor off her already-drenched arm. It felt pointless, her loose black top was already saturated. But the custom-made leggings seemed to be absorbing the sweat so at least her legs were comfortable. She studiously avoided looking to her left and at the mirror, she didn't want to see her hair.

But as awful as she felt, her training partner made it look like Vine was just on a light stroll. Biblia looked like she had gone through hell, specifically the fire-and-brimstone variety. Her artificially tanned white skin literally gleamed with sweat, and her formally long, thin face looked especially skeletal as she took deep heaves of breath.

So as much as Vine's muscles ached, and her head grovelled for any sort of sustenance, she passed a water bottle over. "Come on, we've got two more sets of the same. Keep it up, girl."

"UUURRRRGGGGGH!"

"If you've got enough breath to moan at me you have enough to fight on!" Vine teased, before getting whipped in the face by a ponytail of sweat-matted blonde hair.

Biblia just scowled at her before throwing her hands up in defeat. "Why are we, like, even doing strength training, anyway? We're the support team!"

"Hey, sometimes we do cleanup work-"

"Sure, we really need them biceps to deal with, what was it? Oh yeah, goons that Viper has paralyzed, or Superia has knocked out, or whatever."

"-and when we do solo stuff, too. Anyway, that's not the point."

"If our heroine work isn't the point, then WHY am I in a gym at, like, half past nine in the morning tearing my arms off with these dumbbells?"

Vine sighed. "Isn't your power the ability to absorb information? I've already explained to you."

Biblia beamed back at her like a child caught out by a teacher on some minor, nonpunishable infraction. "And it's because I can get everything I need by touching a book or whatever that I don't bother, like, remembering stuff!"

"... Why don't you just touch a book about fitness?"

"Still no long term memory." Biblia leaned against the back wall and made a 'dumb blonde' face. "Besides this is, like, some all-new science from the Prof, innit? Not as if she's written the book on it yet."

So she did remember something. Vine realised that this was probably just a ploy to trick her into explaining the science behind it again and earn a few precious minutes of respite from the feeling of weights in her hands.

It worked, though, it was super rare to have the opportunity to show off that she actually understood what La Profesora was on about.

"Okay, for a start, it's not really physical training. Well, it is, obviously." Vine glanced down at her own aching arms with a slight pang of, well, pain. "But the point is that it's going to train our resistance."

"I'm no expert but I don't think this is what resistance training is..."

"No, our mental resistance. You see, the brain isn't just an isolated organ, right? It's the central point of a body-wide nervous system. All cognition is affected by your body and is even expressed through it. Emotions all come with physical elements, like when your blood flow increases if you're angry, or you go cold when you're scared. But the body affects more complex processes, too. Studies have found things like people reacting better to things if you force them to smile, and even that you feel more attraction to people who mirror your bodily actions."

"... Aaand that has, like, what to do with our work?"

"Because the prof thinks we could apply the same principle to mental resistance, as I said. It would mean we could get brainwashed a bit less!"

"I am kinda sick of being on cleanup and, like, walking right in to a hypnospiral room. But how does it work, exactly?"

"So you know how you build muscle?"

"... Pretend that I don't."

"Well, basically, when you do something your muscles can't quite cope with, say lifting a weight heavier than your comfortable limit, the fiber gets damaged. But then when you're resting, the fiber knits together to repair itself, this means thatyour muscles become intertwined and, hence, stronger. And if we are aware of that fact, Prof thinks it will increase our mental resistance along with it. These weights, and this whole gym actually, are all especially developed to enable embodied resistance training."

"So, what, if we keep lifting here we'll be harder to hypnotise?"

"Exactly. Just focus, feel the burn, and feel your body and mind get stronger."

Biblia knocked back another mouthful of the ionised water. "Okay, fine, let's go."

Vine smiled. Time for round two of three. She just needed to focus.

At first it was easy, she could easily keep her mind resting on the metronomic motion of her arms and the visceral strain of her biceps as they bent and her triceps as she lowered the weights back down. With every push and pull, she visualised her muscles weaving together into an even stronger web, and her thoughts followed suit, hardening and reinforcing each other.

It became more difficult when the burn truly started. Faster than the first set, as well. An itch crawled up her back as her arms felt gradually more heavy. Both sensations dueled for her attention, but she ignored both pleas. Her mind was stronger, her thoughts reinforced. They stayed on the sensation. She resisted the pull of other thoughts.

And then as the endorphins dulled the pain, she became even more resolute. She was getting stronger in body and mind. She started to leave behind the gym. Her muscles faded away, Biblia's own constant groans of effort became whispers on the edge of reality.

Vine was without thought. On her face was a look of pure determination. She would finish the training.

Meanwhile, in her underground laboratory, La Profesora picked up a phone.

"Are your colleagues undertaking the training now?" The voice on the other end of the line had no time for pleasantries.

"Yes, they're in the gym as we speak. I'll report on the results soon." The technological heroine answered professionally and deferentially.

"And you're sure this new research is valid?"

"Well, no, actually. The evidence for this kind of thing is infamously difficult to replicate, so I'm not even sure of the theoretical basis. But, in any case, it should still have the desired effect. They will become more resistant to control, if only because of a combination of the placebo effect, and their mental routine during the process acting as a kind of visualisation training."

"Good, you're confident that they will complete the course to satisfaction, then?"

"Yes, I'm positive that they will exhibit greater resistance to standard hypnotic techniques in the post-intervention trial."

There was a short pause. "You remember my command was to make them join you, don't you?"

"Of course, Ma'am, but it's still important to make them resistant to attempts by villains to take over their minds."

"Certainly, but I expected you to also make them amenable to my own control."

"Oh, yes Ma'am, they will be." La Profesora also paused, trying to think of an explanation. "The muscle metaphor I explained to you at first, we can extend that. While the existing fiber connects and grows stronger, new fiber must still grow on top of it, growing the muscle in size, right?"

"Yes, but didn't you say that metaphor may not even play out in reality?"

"I did say that, Ma'am. However, it's still useful to think of it like that. I am improving their resistance, but I do not intend to break through their new resistance. Instead, the conditioning will essentially grow on top of it. The dumbbells emit subsonic waves, so as they focus on their resistance visualisation, new subconscious thoughts will form. And they will be of obedience to you."

"Ahh, I see. So, like with muscle growth, it will be imperceptible at first?"

"Indeed. But just as they will wake up one day, look in the mirror, and see the muscular gains they have made, they will also wake up and think the thoughts I want them to."

"They will look in the mirror, and they will see an iron-willed, toned-bodied, and obedient slave."

"Yes, Ma'am. It will take a few more sessions to build up, I'm sure, but I'm confident they will be just as obedient as me by the end of the trial."

"Good, keep me updated, slave."

"Of course, Ma'am."

La Profesora put the phone back down, her lips curled into a blank grin.

---

We take a brief departure from the main Vine storyline because an image was posted on a Discord server which was, admittedly, a bit too perfect to ignore, and a certain SvettaK92 was quite insistent that it should be a priority. And I know others like to see a bit of fitness-nosis, so here we are.

I don't actually have much more to say here, I've already stretched my limits of knowledge about both muscle growth and embodiment in the story! So, hope you enjoy the subtler manip and the shorter (I think?) story!