Pop!
The sound of beer bottles being opened greeted the grinning faces of Alexander and his classmates. Where was their professor? Well, he was the one who opened the beer bottle.
"Alexander get over here. You need to have a drink on your birthday," called professor Grey.
Giving in to the expectant smiles of his classmates, Alexander got his first-ever drink from his professor on the last day of the college semester. Which also happened to be his twenty-first birthday. Alexander had short red hair that gave him an air of uniqueness that was not complemented by his brown eyes.
Everyone from the theoretical science division at Martin University was present and celebrating at Dr. Grey's home, which was about fifteen minutes away from campus.
Dr. Grey was kind enough to host this event because Alexander's senior thesis in theoretical physics was actually groundbreaking, and a famous company that researches particles was going to test Alexander's theory today with a particle accelerator. Oh, but it was also because Dr. Grey was an awesome professor.
"Great. I went all my life without alcohol, and now I want to spend the rest of my life telling people how damn gross this is," said Alexander
"Haha. That's what you say now, but the first setback you get, I'm sure you'll be chugging the stuff to run away," said one student.
"Yeah, just like James here," Carmen said as she took a jab at the student who had just spoken.
"Well, we'll see, won't we. I don't like this stuff much, and I can't see why a theoretical physicist like me would ever need to mess themselves up with it," responded Alexander
Alexander turned his attention away from James and Carmen, who were definitely about to start arguing again, to the TV, which was showing live footage from the particle accelerator that was soon going to turn on.
'I guess this is one of the perks of being a scientist,' thought Alexander.
Alexander lived his life with a hunger for supernatural powers like mana, ki, and chakra, which he had read about in webnovels. And so, even though he spent much of his childhood with chuunibyou, he eventually came to desire real strength that would let him walk on stars and conquer planets. And so... he ended up with these loud nerds, which he actually grew to like very much. Of course, no one here knew or would ever know about his dark past.
'At least I can always be aware of what discoveries are made and hopefully find something that can lead to a force which...'
"Alexander, you know that nothing on that screen is going to change for at least thirty minutes, right?" asked Professor Grey. "Come play truth or dare with us for a bit, and then we can all watch your handiwork together," said Dante Grey a bit teasingly.
"Yeah. Sigh... i'm coming. Let's play," responded Alexander
"Okay! I am first!" said James.
Carmen just rolled her eyes and went along with James' antics.
"Truth or dare?" asked the party, harmoniously towards James.
"Dare. Duh..." responded James, who found joy in doing dares with anyone and everyone.
"Big surprise," said Carmen as she rolled her eyes for what must have been the tenth time today.
"Okay, I dare you to outdo Alexander's grade on his senior thesis," joked Dante Grey.
"Ha, ha, we all know that Alexander's brain works differently than ours, and that just so happens to mean he is way above us. Plus, don't think I forgot that you are the one who grades our papers, professor," said James
"Oh no! You caught me!" said Grey mockingly.
"Guys, shut up," said Carmen.
"Now," she continued, a glint forming in her eyes. "James, I dare you to write a short 500-word essay about Alexander's thesis in the next thirty minutes."
'Ugh, they know me too well to give me something stupid, and instead give me actual work. I should probably switch,' thought James
"Switch! I choose truth!" called James with light pleading in his voice.
"Nope! You said dare. And this is a proper dare. You are in this class too, so you aren't exactly too stupid to write it," refuted Carmen
With a quick glare at her, James got to work and accepted his fate. Everyone was shocked and figured that James was scheming something, but decided to move on with the game after adding a new rule that no dare could be made that took more than three minutes to do. This, of course, did not apply to James.
After a few minutes of the game, the question of truth or dare made it's way to Alexander.
"Truth," said Alexander.
"No fun," said Carmen with a pouty face on. No one knew why but for some reason Carmen was the one asking most of the questions and doing most of the dares, but no one minded because they were usually very entertaining.
"Okay, what motivated you to write your thesis on this theoretical force?" asked Carmen. This was not so much a very interesting question, but it was to this class, who had never really gotten why Alexander wanted to study this topic of research that was barely acknowledged by the scientific community. Everyone here had their reasons. James was studying it because it was the only class that his parents would pay for. And Carmen was studying theoretical physics because Dr. Grey was her dad, and she grew up with his lessons ringing in her ears over and over again. It was safe to say that no one was a part of this class purely out of love for the subject, but Alexander was different. His motivations stayed a mystery, which kept him slightly distant from the rest of his peers. Everyone listened intently to what Alexander was about to say.
"Well, it's really not that complicated. The reason I wrote my thesis on theoretical force was because I plan to one day invent a force called mana that will allow me to conquer the earth, the galaxy, and eventually the universe as a whole," responded Alexander with a serious face and a smile in his eyes.
Everyone recoiled in cringe from what they just heard. Carmen was seriously thinking about punching Alexander in the face when he added...
"I just think that the world would be a better place when everything is decided by strength and not so much by social standing."
This was Carmen's last straw as she kicked over Alexander's chair which caused Alexander to tumble to the ground.
"Well, oh mighty ruler of the universe. I hope that day comes quickly because I'll be able to punch you and James with one-hundred times the force," said Carmen with a look in her eye that said she would actually do it.
"Haha, I think it's a great idea. I'd love to have superpowers myself," added James. Though it was clear when Carmen got up and chased him around the room that his opinion wasn't valued all that much.
Everyone was laughing at this time because the atmosphere created by the joking and silly infighting was enough to make this the most homely class on campus.
"Haa," as Alexander recovered from his spot on the floor, he smiled to himself.
'What would their reactions be if they knew I was telling the truth,' thought Alexander. He heaved a longer sigh and sat down, ready to change his truth statement to something more believable when Dr. Grey got a phone call. It was the director of the science lab that would be running the test soon. Dr. Grey's expression rose and fell and then rose again. After a minute of facial expressions and nodding his head, Dr. Grey said, "Yup, I'll tell him."
Alexander started to feel worried that something was wrong but it was unwarranted because he soon received the news that the setup for the experiment was finished and in five minutes they would turn on the particle accelerator.
Alexander was so excited that he stood up and immediately ran towards the screen at the end of the room that was showing the accelerator. At this same moment, James got up and proclaimed that he had finished his essay.
"How could you finish an essay in eight minutes? Give that to me, let me see," said Carmen as she tore the pages of paper away from James. Over and over again, for five hundred words, was written - Alexander's thesis in the next thirty minutes. Alexander's thesis in the next thirty minutes. Alexander's thesis in the next thirty minutes... -.
James' eyes were full of pride and gloating as he imagined how smart he was for beating the system.
It was pretty safe to say at this point that James had basically forfeited his life, and Carmen was happy to oblige, but before she could start swearing and punching James, Dr. Grey had them stop and forced them to watch the scene that was soon to unfold on the TV. Alexander had worked hard on his thesis, and Dr. Grey was not about to let his daughter's violent tendencies hurt Alexander's experience.
With the two trouble makers quieting down the rest of the class also gathered around and watched the scientists moving in the control room getting ready to put Alexander's theory to the test. If it succeeded then a new form of energy could be discovered which would provide more energy for mankind than even nuclear power. Everyone was excited to see what would happen.
After a few more minutes, the director appeared in front of the monitor and said, "All systems go. Let's see what you've done, kid."
The director moved out of the way of the camera and focused it as best he could on the accelerator.
Alexander held his breath. 'Will this work? Will I finally get a glimpse at something like mana?' wondered Alexander.
"3... 2... 1... start," said the scientist as he flipped the switch to the particle accelerator and changed the world.