"Was that guy supposed to be one of the strong ones?" I yawned.
"'Cause if he is, this is going to get boring real fast."
"He's actually the strongest," Principal Vaughn said.
"Among the normal students, that is."
"What does that mean?" Lucille asked.
"In this school, strength determines everything," he explained.
"It decides your place in the hierarchy. The stronger you are, the better your life. But there's a gap in the hierarchy—a gap that's always been here. This school was built on that principle.
"They're called the Sacred Four. Since the school's founding, the descendants of the pillars have attended, always four of them, always monstrously powerful geniuses. The normal students… they're forced apart, form clans under those four, fight turf wars, or even lose their will to fight entirely."
"So basically," I said, "if the strongest normal kid can't touch me, the monster kids are the ones I should be excited about."
"You catch on fast, kid," he laughed.
As he showed us around the academy, the tension in the air was palpable.
Students went out of their way to avoid me, not daring to meet my eyes.
That wasn't what annoyed me—the whispers were.
Every room we entered went quiet, then started buzzing with gossip.
"The cafeteria's this way," Principal Vaughn droned on.
"Down the hall from there are the training rooms. You're both listed as students, but attending class isn't mandatory. Do as you please, but… I ask that you not bully the normal students."
"You don't have to worry about that," I assured him.
"My eyes are only on your little monsters," I added as Lucille and I walked down the hall.
"Before you go," he said, suddenly serious, "those techniques you used earlier… what were they?"
"Techniques?" I asked, confused.
"Yes. The body-strengthening and movement techniques. I've never seen anything like it."
He scratched his head.
"Using moves that powerful usually requires a massive amount of magical energy. But I felt nothing—neither when you moved nor when you attacked."
I chuckled and kept walking. Lucille stopped and calmly explained.
"There were no techniques, no magic, no special body moves," she said.
"That was just good-old-fashioned physical strength."
Principal Vaughn froze, watching us walk away. Only after we were out of sight did he move—and he broke into a cold sweat.
"That kid's a monster," he muttered, shivering slightly. Then he ran through a few mental simulations. "I wonder if the Sacred Four will finally be satisfied after facing an opponent like him." He chuckled nervously.
Lucille and I headed to the cafeteria. As soon as I pushed the doors open, I regretted it. The room fell completely silent. You could hear a pin drop. Then the whispering started.
"Hey, Lucille," I said.
"Yes, Malcom?"
"Want to hit the training room first?"
"Yes. The hell I do."
We walked toward the training hall. Around the corner, voices rose.
"Fuck off, Leon," someone shouted.
"You're not king anymore! You can't just do whatever you want!" another voice yelled.
I sensed four people around the corner—and sure enough, one of them was Leon. A loud thud rang out.
"Just 'cause I lost to that asshole doesn't mean you're strong enough to talk back," Leon spat.
"He'll defeat him soon enough," one of his goons bragged.
"But you? You're too weak." Leon sneered.
I stepped forward.
"Funny. I remember saying the same thing to you not long ago."
Leon paled slightly but forced himself to regain composure.
"You may have beaten me," he said through clenched teeth.
"But even with that strength, you're nothing to those monsters."
"Good to hear. You've got me excited to meet them," I said, joking.
"You've got three months," Leon sneered.
"In three months, they return from training, and you'll be put in your place."
"Three months?" I ask bluntly.
"That's three months I can kick your ass whenever I feel like it."
His face went pale again, then he straightened.
"I swear to you… by that time, I'll be strong enough to destroy you completely."
"Then after I beat you, I'll take down the four and become the strongest in this school."
"I love the confidence, kid. Really do," I said sarcastically.
"But try not to dig yourself into a hole you can't get out of." I patted his shoulder lightly and walked past him.
The training room was huge—about the size of a four-bedroom house.
In the center, a pedestal emerged from the floor, holding a small dial.
"I wonder what this does?" I said, turning the dial to the right.
Lucille collapsed as if something heavy had landed on her.
"TURN IT OFF! TURN IT OFF!!" she screamed.
"What the hell was that?" I asked, confused.
"You didn't feel that?" she said, struggling to get up.
"Feel what?"
"Apparently, this room is a gravity chamber," she explained.
"The more you turn the dial, the higher the gravity."
"Well, that sounds fun," I said, excited.
"You might want to step out," I warned her.
After she left, I turned the dial again—nothing. Higher, still nothing.
Maxed out, and I felt… nothing.
Either Lucille was screwing with me, or I was just too strong.
I turned it off, dejected, as she returned.
"Just how strong is your body?" she asked, genuinely shocked.
"I barely turned it, and I felt like I was going to be flattened."
"Blame my father," I said with a smile.
"He made me wear weighted training clothes every day. Whenever I got used to them, he added fifty pounds."
"That's it?" Lucille looked confused. "That doesn't explain why you're so strong. How long did that last?"
"Every other week, for sixteen years," I said casually.
"Child abuse much?" she joked.
"Maybe," I said, laughing sadly.
"Well, enough of that. There's got to be more to this room."
I closed my eyes and reached out with my consciousness.
Instead of just seeing the room, I saw the runes that lined it. Each individual symbol radiating mana.
I look all around me.
My mind traces the magical symbols etched into the stone covering every surface of the room.
From the floor, to the ceiling, even in the corners were the seams met.
"Hey, Lucille," I called.
"Can you turn the dial to a setting you're comfortable with?"
"Uh… sure. Why?"
"I can see the runes tied to this room. I want to know more about what they do. I'll understand how they work once they're activated."
"Cool," she said, moving the dial. The runes glowed as I studied them briefly.
"Seems like this wasn't a total waste," I said, satisfied.
"Why? What did you find?" she asked.
"The runes gather all the mana in the air and compress it, making it feel like gravity is increasing," I explained.
"At first I was confused because the runes are on the walls, floor, and ceiling. That's why I had you activate it."
"I get it now," she said.
"And what will you do with this info?"
"I want to run a few experiments."
"Shit. Guess I'm the guinea pig?" she asked nervously.
"What are you, insane?"I assured her.
She sighed in relief.
"I already called dibs on it," I said.