The training program intensified after the second week.

First, It was hammered to them to follow a strict guideline when they find themselves in a fight. There are rules of engagement for fighting other enhanced, and there are rules in fighting mundane people.

Like what they are doing right now.

Darion smacked his head to the cushioned sparring mat for the unknown number of times now. He groaned, but he stood up again as always.

The Specialist that was his opponent smiled warily at him. "You got spunk, kid. I'll give you that," He said. "But part of fighting is knowing when you are outclassed, take a stepped back and reassessed your fucking situation."

Darion just lifted his arms in a defensive pose. He didn't say anything else. He couldn't say anything else. His opponent would never understand that he was actually making progress. That he can see it right in front of him.

Congratulations! Due to your diligence, you have increased your skill: Melee fighting by 1.

Requirements: AGILITY 1, STRENGTH 1

Current skill: 5

He smiled and showed his bloody teeth. Then he lunged forward. A quick jab followed by a low kick, both of which were easily blocked by the soldier. Darion sent another combo but his opponent easily read him and then he was tackled to the ground. They struggled for a moment until the specialist got on top of him and started pummeling him with a barrage of punches. He raised his hands to protect himself, but even so, a few of the strikes went past his defenses and added to his overall damages.

The specialist was patient and waited for the right time to find his opening. Then coldly and deliberately strike the soft flesh beneath him. They were instructed from the very beginning not to pull their punches because these freaks can quickly heal. And pain is a good motivator for learning.

The specialist looked down at the kid with cold eyes as he continued his punches. He never really like these freaks, and the only thing good about this entire program is that he gets to do this. Rain in the pain train and let the smug bastards know who the real man is and who the bitch.

So he pummeled Darion even more. Darion was trapped under the soldier, and he could not force himself out. He tried to remember the instructions they trained on him for days now on how to get out of a lock, but it was not easy when blows are reigning down on you from all directions.

At the corner of his eyes, he saw the bastard smile. Darion snapped as he glared back at the soldier. He could feel the surge of energy emanating from his body and redirected it out of him. Get off me! He screamed in his mind.

Suddenly the soldier went flying away from him and hit the twenty feet ceiling directly above them before falling back down. The soldier bounced once, and he was still. There were alarm curses and shouts all over the training room as other instructors and soldiers saw what happened and converge on the injured instructor's position.

Mahoney was the first to reach the instructor, and he was already checking for a pulse before others arrived. He switched position and checked the soldier's breathing. "Nothing to be alarmed," Sgt. Mahoney said in an authoritative voice. "He is just unconscious from a bump. Medics are on their way."

Darion could not help noticing that a few of the instructors are looking at him nastily. Then Mahoney was looming in front of him. "How many times did we tell you that this is strictly physical training? No power is to be used."

Darion tried to raise himself from his prone position, but he simply did not have any strength left, and he fell back on his buttocks. "The guy was stronger, faster, and meaner than me. Besides, he is far more experienced in combat than I am. There is no way to win except to use my powers."

"The objective was not to win but to learn!" Mahoney shouted, then he sighed and traced his sleek black hair with one hand. "He was supposed to whoop your ass, boy, and give you some perspective in humility."

He sighed, then looked at the unconscious specialist. "Obviously, that didn't go as planned."

Darion stared at him for a moment, then said one simple word, "Oh."

Sgt Mahoney shook his head and, for the first time, started to smile. "I don't think you hurt Mark that badly, at least physically. But the bruised in his ego will last just a bit longer. Maybe he won't be able to get it up in the next few days, and his favorite whore will be sad."

He winked at Darion, who just stared back at him. "Too much information, sergeant," The younger man admonished. The sergeant just shrugged.

"Whatever," he said, "Either way, it’s time for you to go to the medical wing as well and check on your bruises."

"I'm fine," Darion insisted.

Suddenly, the mirth in the sergeant's voice was gone. "I'm not suggesting, civilian," He said. "The only one that can reassure me at this point is a dude with a lab coat and 2 PhDs to tell me you are okay. Besides, your power manifested unexpectedly. a few days ago, the only thing you can do with your powers is to pull a few small bricks over to you like a freaking Jedi, but anything bigger and you couldn't move them, Now you just slammed my second best instructor almost 30 feet up in the air. Now move! Be a good cow and let the god aliens experiment on you a bit."

Resigned, Darion obeyed and slowly walked towards the assigned clinic. It wasn’t that completely bad. He has a thing for one of the pretty doctors so he didn’t really mind hanging out at the clinic.

Darion endured a whole battery of tests after he informed them about what happened. There was nothing more that would excite the nearby scientists than finding out that there are new aspects of the power they just categorized.

And yet Darion never really revealed to them about the system. Somehow, he felt that they didn’t need to know more about it. So he kept telling them only about the telekinesis skill, which grudgingly is also getting better.

Darion grimly followed instructions as the scientist demanded that he moved one metal bar at a time from one table to another, which are 10 feet apart. First, they asked to blast a volunteer like what he did with the specialist, but either it is because of anxiety performance, or he simply ran out of juice, he cannot duplicate the feat again. The scientists are not deterred and instead gave him a smaller but harder mental task, hence the brick transfer exercise.

The array of tests lasted for 4 hours, but eventually, even the overeager scientist finally let him go. The only good news about the entire affair is the fact that the scientists definitely found an improvement in his superpowers. The truth is he is fully aware of this because the system actually informed him about his progress. To Darion, this is just another grinding session.

Congratulations! Due to your diligence, you are able to increase your skill "Telekinesis" by 1

Requirements: MIND 1

Current skill: 2

In the end, Darion was let go, and a few of his fellow empowereds were waiting for him just outside the massive tent complex that the scientist used to reside themselves,

"What the hell happened to you?" Akiko asked.

Darion sighed. "I used my powers against one of the instructors, and they are interested in how my power manifested. I was a guinea pig all day."

The little Asian girl winced. “Don't they have enough information yet? It's like getting a root canal over and over again” Akiko whined.

"Well, it's done," Darion firmly. "I just hope I contributed to humanity's progress or something. Come on, I'm starving."

After Dinner, they still have to attend a one hour lecture about what to do if confronted with civilian rioters. After that final lecture, the guys wanted to go back to the cafeteria and celebrate Richard's milestone in iron pumping. He was one of 3 Strongmen, the strength-augmented empowered and probably the nicest one of them. Well, at least the most civil one. What is it about strength and bullying?

Anyway, Darion opted out, stating that the medical test done to him took a lot out of his energy, and decided to crash early. The group was a bit disappointed, but no one can actually dispute what he said. Every one of them had been subjected to the same battery of test and know how galling it all was, especially for the speedsters.

So Darion walked back to the bunkhouse alone and dropped to his bed, not even bothering to take off his boots. He was tired, he admitted to himself, but his mind was actually rolling around him, excited and not yet ready to sign out. He knew he was thinking about a lot of things all the time now, but not once did he really get a headache because of it. It's like his brain wanted to jump out of his skull and do a jig right there on the dirty floor.

What the hell do you want from me? He thought miserably. With an effort, he turned over to his back and then sat up again. He pulled his boots off, placed his old phone inside one and his lecture notebook on the other. Then he stared at it and concentrated.

He smiled when the pair of boots wobbled for a moment and then started levitating in the air. He experimented with the height a bit as he let his boots go up and down for a while. Even with the thick notebook and old phone, the damn boots weren't that heavy. At least inside his mind.

Each bunk has its own small wooden drawer to keep their personal items in. Worried, that one of his bunkmates might see him, and think that he is showing off, he let the boots circle around him and turned towards the drawer. The lower door opened, and there was nothing inside but a pair of flip flops. Darion commanded the boots to go in and then reclosed the door to give his little power play some privacy. Despite not seeing the boots, he can feel them still floating inside the drawer. Good, he thought again. That answered some of his questions neatly. He didn’t need a line of sight to make his telekinesis to work. If he has a good image of the damn thing, then it is more than enough to affect. Soon he needed to experiment with the range limit of his telekinesis power.

Now let see how far I can keep it up and strain my mind doing this shit.

He blinked, and he fell asleep just like that.

***