Super Soldier Physical Examination

"While the serum keeps your body at peak condition, it also causes extra wear on the cartilage in certain joints. Your right shoulder is the most severely worn area—probably because of how you use your shield, enduring high-frequency impacts over long periods."

Captain America subconsciously moved his right shoulder.

He had indeed felt some tightness there lately, but he had always assumed it was due to overtraining.

"If it's convenient, come by my clinic. If this wear isn't treated, it'll only get worse."

Captain America looked at him.

"You're the doctor from that Miracle Clinic Fury mentioned?"

"That's me."

Captain America nodded.

"I'll come by."

Three days later.

A tall blond man in a plaid shirt and khaki pants walked into Miracle Clinic.

He ducked beneath the doorway out of habit. It wasn't that the door was low; it was simply instinctive for him.

"Doctor Lynn." He greeted him with a smile.

If not for his absurdly well-proportioned physique, he would have looked like a young veteran who had just moved to Brooklyn.

Honest, clean-cut, and polite.

"Come in, Captain Rogers. The VIP examination room is inside."

Captain America followed Lynn into the VIP examination room at the very back of the first floor.

As he entered, he swept his gaze over the equipment in the room: Stark Tech's Quantum Imaging Scanner, a Biochemical Lab Bench, and Electromagnetic Shielding Walls.

"Tony sponsored this?" he asked.

"He paid his consultation fee in something other than cash."

Captain America smiled.

He sat on the examination table with both hands on his knees.

The standard posture of a good patient.

"Do I need to take my clothes off?"

"Just your shirt."

Captain America took off his plaid shirt.

Underneath, he wore a white sleeveless undershirt.

Lynn could see the contours of his upper-body muscles. Every line was clearly defined, but they did not bulge exaggeratedly like a bodybuilder's. Instead, they formed a kind of functionally perfect harmony.

Every part of this body had been optimized for performance, without a trace of excess.

All-Things Diagnosis and All-Things Analysis activated at full capacity.

Information poured in like a waterfall.

The workings of the Super Soldier Serum were peeled apart layer by layer in his mind: how it altered every cell, the depth of those alterations, and their efficiency.

It did not simply enhance existing functions. At the cellular level, it redefined the standard for how a human body operated.

Protein synthesis speed: 4.7 times that of an ordinary human.

Mitochondrial energy output efficiency: 3.2 times that of an ordinary human.

Neural synapse signal transmission speed: 2.8 times that of an ordinary human.

Bone density: 2.1 times that of an ordinary human.

Muscle fiber resilience: 3.5 times that of an ordinary human.

Every parameter had been pushed close to the theoretical limits of human physiology.

But he also saw the price.

To maintain this state, the serum constantly consumed the cells' repair resources, like an engine that ran at full power forever.

Over time, certain parts wore down faster than they would in an ordinary person.

The right shoulder was the most obvious example.

The cartilage in the shoulder joint was seventeen percent thinner than normal.

There had also been subtle changes in the synovial fluid within the joint cavity—its viscosity had decreased, reducing its lubricating effect.

"The serum keeps your body at its peak, but being at your peak doesn't mean you won't wear down," Lynn said as he examined him.

"The cartilage in your right shoulder is nearly twenty percent thinner than normal. If you leave it alone, you'll start experiencing obvious limitations in movement within five years."

"Five years?" Captain America considered it. "Given the kind of work I do, five years isn't a short time."

"But if it's treated, it'll be more than five years."

With the help of All-Things Analysis, Lynn had already designed a treatment plan: a nanoscale cartilage repair agent.

Under normal circumstances, something like this would take months to synthesize and test in a laboratory.

But with All-Things Analysis providing an intuitive understanding of molecular structures, combined with the manufacturing capabilities of Stark's equipment, he completed the synthesis in forty minutes.

The repair agent was a transparent, gel-like liquid delivered directly into the joint cavity through an injection.

It would gather in the damaged cartilage areas, mimic the proliferation process of normal cartilage cells, and restore the worn cartilage within two to three weeks.

The key was that it would not interfere with the serum's operation.

"You'll feel a slight soreness and swelling during the injection." Lynn approached Captain America's right side with the syringe.

"Less than getting shot?"

"Much less."

The needle pierced the shoulder joint cavity.

The repair agent was injected.

Captain America's right shoulder twitched slightly, then he slowly rolled it.

Once, twice.

"This feels—" He stopped, surprise showing on his face.

"What is it?"

"It feels like I'm back to how I was right after I received the serum. Back then, nothing hurt, and there was no resistance at all when I moved my joints."

"For the past two years, I thought that feeling was just the novelty of having become stronger. Turns out, I really did wear down afterward."

"You got used to the wear, so you forgot what it felt like not to be worn down."

Captain America looked at Lynn.

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-two."

"You can do all this at twenty-two?"

"Age has nothing to do with ability. When you were in your early twenties, you were doing things no one your age should have been doing too."

Captain America fell silent for a second, then nodded.

He put his shirt back on.

As he stood, he moved his right arm—performing the standard shield-throwing motion, a wide backswing followed by a forward thrust.

"No problems at all," he said.

"The repair agent will continue working for two to three weeks. Normal training and missions are fine during that time, but if possible, reduce the intensity of single impacts on your right shoulder by ten percent."

"I'll try."

Captain America walked to the door, then looked back.

"How much do I owe you?"

"Just help me spread the word about the clinic."

"Spread the word? I'm not very good at that—"

"You don't need to advertise. Just mention to your friends that there's a good doctor here."

Captain America thought about it, then nodded.

"There's a physicist you may have heard of—Bruce Banner. His situation is much more complicated than mine. If you're confident that you can handle it—"

"Tony mentioned him to me too."

"Then that's good. I'll talk to Banner."

Captain America left.

After the examination room door closed, a system panel appeared.

[Ding! Treatment complete! Evaluation: S-Class Extraordinary!]

[Saintly Hands Copy activated... Scanning target ability database...]

[Core talent detected: Super Soldier Physique (A-rank)]

[Based on treatment contribution rating (S-rank), automatically copying the highest-quality talent—]

[Copy progress: 12%... 37%... 59%... 83%... 100%!]

[Ding! Copy complete! Obtained A-rank talent: Super Soldier Physique (Incomplete Version · 70%)!]

[Ability details: Strength, speed, endurance, reaction speed, and other attributes increased comprehensively to 70% of Super Soldier level. Produces a comprehensive stacking effect with existing body-enhancement abilities.]