After their fight, Marcus had a clear understanding of Peter's combat skills. Peter was still fighting with pure brute force—at most, he had some basic boxing foundation. Without his spider abilities, his fighting technique was genuinely terrible.
And this was after Marcus's guidance. In the past, Peter had just been a kid randomly using his powers to fight.
It had to be said that the only reason Peter could defeat his opponents was because of his overwhelming physical abilities, not skill.
For Peter, facing Marcus was shocking. He felt like an ordinary person in front of him. Whether it was his super strength or spider-sense, none of it seemed to work. He could barely resist Marcus's attacks, and if Marcus hadn't been holding back, Peter might not have fared much better than those gangsters.
"You... why are you so strong?"
Peter didn't understand. Marcus looked so young—why was he so powerful?
Seeing Peter's confused expression, Marcus walked over with a light smile. "You're too weak. Apart from your spider abilities, your best feature is your mind. That might be connected to your powers—your reaction speed is really good."
This wasn't just empty praise. Peter's reflexes were genuinely fast. Even though it couldn't prevent him from getting hit, it did allow him to make quick defensive moves. While there was also the factor of Marcus holding back, Peter's spider-sense still had some effect.
After hearing Marcus's assessment, Peter relaxed a bit. Even though he had some understanding of Marcus's strength, Marcus was far more powerful than him.
Marcus was different from all the opponents Peter had faced before. If they ever became enemies, Peter couldn't even dodge Marcus's attacks.
Fortunately, Marcus had no hostile intentions and seemed completely unthreatened by anything.
Peter was shocked, but also puzzled. He didn't understand where this confidence came from. Even with his spider abilities, he was still vulnerable to guns. But Marcus showed absolute confidence in his own strength, as if nothing in this world could hurt him.
"I need to give you some advice about your fighting skills. First, using your full strength when attacking is fine, but you must control that strength—don't let your power control you. Second, train your perceptive abilities more. That will make your reactions faster. Third, use your imagination. Don't let yourself be limited by your own abilities."
Hearing Marcus's suggestions, Peter felt a bit overwhelmed. It sounded simple, but how could he fix all of this in a short time?
"You're right, but I'm sorry—I might not be able to do it."
It wasn't that he hadn't tried training himself. Especially under Marcus's previous guidance, he'd trained seriously. But he'd already mastered such powerful abilities that he couldn't ignore his own strength and treat himself like an ordinary person.
What's more, he had so much to do right now—not only working as a lab intern, but also fighting crime in New York and providing newspapers with Spider-Man photos to make money. His time was really tight. He didn't have enough time to train properly.
"No, no, no—you can do it. Your potential is far beyond your imagination."
Marcus waved his hand. Peter's potential was enormous, and he should develop his abilities more deeply.
"But I... I don't have that much time."
"No, you have time. You swing around New York every day—you can use that time to learn to master your own power."
Peter was patrolling New York to stop criminals, not wandering around aimlessly.
"If I'm training, what about the criminals? I can obviously handle those guys!"
"Who said you can't train while taking on those criminals? Don't forget your spider abilities—they're best trained in actual combat."
As he spoke, Marcus started attacking Peter again.
"Let me give you a taste of training in battle first."
Marcus's punches came continuously, falling on Peter like a torrential downpour—and this was with most of his power suppressed.
Feeling the attacks coming from all directions, Peter began to resist, firmly blocking with his arms in front of the incoming punches, relying on his abilities to withstand the assault.
"Don't just stand there—learn to fight back! Or are you planning to let me beat you to death?"
Marcus's words were merciless as he used his fists to push back Peter's attempts at defense.
Peter stepped back several paces, finding it increasingly difficult to parry Marcus's attacks. But this time, he changed a little. Hearing Marcus's words, he tried to counterattack.
While defending against Marcus's attack, a strand of web shot out from his hand. He wanted to use the webbing to slow down Marcus's offensive.
The web wrapped around Marcus's fist like instant noodles, but Marcus just pulled his hand forward and punched toward Peter's chest.
This time, Peter had already reacted. When the attack came, Peter's legs pushed off with full force, jumping up and successfully avoiding Marcus's strike.
Of course, Peter wasn't just trying to avoid Marcus's attack. While jumping, both hands shot out webbing, dragging two steel bars over. He gripped the reinforcement bars tightly and swept them toward Marcus.
"Try this sweep!"
Peter yelled loudly, but the two steel bars hit the ground while Marcus stood balanced on top of them as if they were solid ground.
"Good idea, but too obvious."
Marcus threw a punch toward Peter. Seeing Marcus attack again, Peter could only try to dodge first, but Marcus didn't give him that chance. Just as Peter was about to evade, Marcus kicked him to the ground.
"Don't focus on one thing and ignore everything else. Your upper body defense was decent, but what were your legs doing?"
Peter's footwork was completely disorganized—not even as coordinated as when he'd made his counterattack just now.
Getting up from the ground, Peter looked at the shoe print on his pants. He finally understood the gap between himself and Marcus.
He also realized that Marcus was a good teacher. At least this sparring session had taught him some basic combat skills.