That very night, Darion tried the suggestions Akiko gave her.

Mahoney and the others gave their discreet permission for the enhanced people to have a few extra hours at night due to the incoming final exams in the next couple of days.

Almost everyone was fretting about it.

Except for Darion.

He’d memorize the entire curriculum and did some extra studying weeks before this. Darion is confident he is going to ace the written exam. The practical one might be a bit more challenging, but since the management only expects him to move some bricks with his mind, he feels very confident that he will be able to pass that as well with flying colors.

He is actually more interested in the other powers that are manifesting around him like mushrooms and he wanted to get a handle on some of them. One of them is his enhanced speed.

Akiko claimed that practicing not just the forward and backward motions but also lateral movement will help the body acclimatized with high-speed actions. Of course, with Darion’s growing intellect, he already deduced this and is actually beginning to train himself as a football athlete and doing lateral quickness drills. What surprised him though is when Akiko suggested that she also do a lot of ballet dancing to help her with balance and toe strengthening.

So while everyone is stressing out while reading books and assignments back in the barracks, Darion is one of the very few people who are very relaxed in their longhouse. He watched in amusement as everyone else glared at Timothy Belton at the end of the rows of bed. Tim was intentionally placed there by the group because of his very loud snoring, and right now he is sleeping like an Ox after doing an intense workout that afternoon.

Tim is one of the strongmen and his almost leathery skin made him almost immune to many forms of kinetic attacks, including modern bullets. This didn’t help that the roof of his mouth is this rigid structure that contributes to his loud snoring.

Darion walked past him and closed himself in the shower room. Once alone, Darion started doing several lateral exercises and drills. Once he is finished with that, he hesitated and finally did several ballerina moves in front of the mirror. He soon realized that balancing on one toe is harder than he thought and this difficulty turned into a challenge and soon, Darion was doing ballet movements and dance steps with a passion.

He finally got a hang of spinning in one toe with raised hands when out of nowhere, a not so brilliant thought came to him, and he implemented the idea without too much thought.

While still spinning in place, he activated his super speed.

He unintentionally created a mini-tornado and when he loses his balance, he went flying to the other end of the long bathroom only to smash in the wall. Darion groaned as he stood up and then he realized he was soaked with shower water that turned on. More importantly, the bathroom tiles on the side of the wall now have a massive spider crack hugely displayed on it.

Darion sighed as he stood up. There is no way to hide such big evidence. Everyone knew that his powers are telekinetic, and even if they believe that this came from that, it is still a massive improvement from his previous performances that they will start to do more experiments. Eventually, they will realize that he, Darion, has other hidden powers.

So what you might ask? Well, Darion never trusted his government as his dad did. If they knew the extent of his powers, which he is only beginning to understand himself, they too will come to the conclusion that he was a game-changer. There is simply a lot of exploits that can be done and they will start to pressure him to go to a certain path that he is not really interested in, like a MIND specialist for example.

Experimentation is one thing, but to force him into a path and future that he himself didn’t choose just put him in too much of a dread that he didn’t want to think about it.

He might not want the government to discover his powers but what the hell can he do about it? It was his stupid whim that put him here in the first place.

He walked towards the door and peered outside. Everyone else is still fretting in their individual readings, except for Tim who is still snoring away. That is small comfort. Sooner or later someone will stand up and go to the bathroom and will see the crack in the wall. They will put two and two together and back to the experiment table.

Darion’s eyes returned to Tim’s sleeping form. He watched as his bulging muscles almost rip the simple white shirt he wore just by breathing. Suddenly, an idea formed in his mind.

He opened the door wide and took a deep breath. The door to the bathroom is facing the same way as the bunk beds are positioned in the wall so no one can see Darion for now.

Using everything he learned from manipulating his telekinetic skills, Darion moved the big man with a sense of urgency and desperation. First, Tim floated crosswise in his bed, then Darion tilted him forward until he is standing, then gently dropped him to his feet.

With sweat pouring down his face, Darion rested his bunkmate for a moment in that position, his head lolling to one side.

God damn it, the dude weighs a ton!

A moment later he reactivated his telekinetic powers and Tim floated towards him, still snoring. To his utter gratefulness to whoever gods are watching him, none of the other bunkmates gave Tim a second glance, all thinking he was just groggily walking towards the bathroom. It was just a miracle no one noticed he was actually floating for several seconds.

Darion willed the boy towards him until he is clutching him in his huge biceps. Then he sighed. He sincerely hopes this will work. A bungling strongman hitting the tiled wall will definitely make a crack in the wall and absolved him of any blame and therefore unnecessary questions.

“I’m really sorry about this, Tim,” Darion said to him in a whisper. Just then, the dude abruptly stopped snoring and started to flutter his eyes. “What the-” he started saying.

Darion panicked and immediately enveloped the guy in his telekinetic powers, and coupled with his own brute strength, Darion threw the innocent guy towards the wall Darion had cracked.

To his utter surprised and growing horror, Tim smashed into the wall far stronger than Darion expected him to. He made a loud thud when he hit the wall. Tim on the other hand has screeching metal and rumbling stones accompanied his crash until his entire body passed through the wall and into the outside beyond.

*Congratulations! You unlocked the ability "Super Strength."

Requirements: STRENGTH 1

Current level: 1

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

Error! Error!

You have not met the requirement to increase your ability beyond 5, the increase is on hold until you meet the requirements.

Requirements: MIND 2

Current skill: 5

“Holy shit!” Darion said to himself.

“What the hell was that?”

Darion heard Akiko said in the other room and several feet started running towards him. They found him gawking at the wall with Tim outside, still groggy.

“Holy shit!” Akiko said as she zipped towards Tim. Others rushed forward as well and there was a general commotion. The chaos continued until guards and Sgt. Mahoney came marching down the bunkhouse minutes later. Burst tubing showered a lot of them with water that Darion now didn’t stand out. He was just as bewildered as the rest of them.

“What in god’s forsaken abyss are you all doing and making a ruckus inside my base!” Mahoney roared and many of them flinched from the sergeant’s anger.

Darion hesitantly stepped forward. “I…. I was in the bathroom doing my business when Tim here just entered like he is still sleeping, then he turned and just…. Charged the wall,” Darion said, opening his hands helplessly.

Just then, Tim blinked his eyes open and looking innocent, said “Did I get the high score?”

Two other strongmen, Including Jeff Fowler who normally hang out with Tim, snickered behind the group.

The others rolled their eyes. Akiko punched Tim in the arm, but it was Akiko who winced in pain. “You dope!” she said, but not really angry.

“Unfucking believable!” the sergeant shouted. “You all have barely a week staying here and you still giving me grief!”

For a whole 5 minutes, he lashes out at them as they all stood at attention, stating that all the discipline they tried to instill in the class was wasted. That they just wasted good government facilities, that he lost some good sleeping time because of them, and that they are all devil spawn!

Eventually, he ordered all to gather their things and report to bunkhouse Echelon B1. “You are all lucky that we have more than enough facilities than freaks like you at the moment! or else all of you will be sleeping under the stars right now!”

Mohoney whirled on Tim suddenly. “And you!” he said, glaring at him. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you. After your exam, you will report back here and help my people rebuild this place.”

“Sir, permission to volunteer and help out, sir!” Even before Darion knew what he was doing, he was already stepping forward. What the fuck was that?

Tim flashed him a weak grateful smile before lowering his eyes again when the sergeant glared at him. Mahoney also turned his gaze at Darion but said nothing. And Darion realized that he was feeling guilty and wanted to help out.

After walking several meters away, Sergeant Mahoney turned once more. “I’ve decided that all of you will volunteer to help Mr. Belton tomorrow in fixing that hole. So all of you will return after your exam back here and fix my god damn hole!”

The groans from the other were drowned out by Darion’s loud, “Sir Yes sir!”