The next morning, the heat in Aye was oppressive. The three scions arrived at dawn, finding the Sage sitting in the courtyard under a Baobab tree.
Senan had stayed up all night drawing diagrams.
"Jomo. Step forward," Senan commanded.
The large Silhouette boy stepped up. "Yes, Master."
"What is strength?" Senan asked.
"Lifting heavy things? Striking hard?"
"Wrong," Senan barked. "Strength is mass. Mass is gravity. Gravity is destiny."
Senan held up a small, smooth black stone. "In the old philosophy (Physics 101), force equals mass times acceleration. But in my philosophy, mass is supreme. Jomo, your training begins not with lifting weights, but with becoming the weight."
Senan handed him a scroll he had scribbled on. It contained basic breathing exercises, but he had renamed them "Gravitational Singularities."
"Visualize your center of gravity," Senan instructed, using his best dungeon master voice. "Imagine your bones are not bone, but neutron stars. Imagine your skin is not flesh, but the event horizon from which no light escapes. Collapse your existence inward."
Jomo closed his eyes. He was a simple young man. He didn't question. He simply visualized. Bones like stars. Skin like the void.
[System Activation: Theory "Schwarzschild Radius" detected.][Applying concept to Target: Diallo Jomo.]
Suddenly, the ground beneath Jomo cracked. Craaaack.
Zola and Rameses jumped back.
Jomo opened his eyes, gasping. "Master... I feel... heavy."
Senan looked at the floor tiles. They were pulverized into dust exactly where Jomo's feet were. The boy hadn't moved. He had just become... heavier.
"Excellent," Senan said, trying to hide his trembling hands. "You have achieved Level 1: Dense Boy." (He needed to work on the names). "Your goal is to become so dense that physical attacks simply orbit you rather than hitting you."
He turned to the Albino youth. "Zola."
Zola stepped forward, eyes wide. He had seen the floor crack. This was real.
"You are weak," Senan said bluntly. "You cannot punch a rock."
"No, Master."
"So don't punch," Senan tapped his own temple. "Calculation. The world is made of patterns. Ubuntu connects our hearts, yes? But what connects the air? The light? The heat?"
"... Air?" Zola ventured.
"Data," Senan corrected. "Information. I am going to teach you a language. Not spoken by men, but by the universe. Boolean Logic."
Senan handed him a scroll covered in ones and zeros, logic gates, and basic Python coding structure, but written in ancient script.
"This is the White Sun Scripture," Senan lied effortlessly. "When you look at a fireball coming at you, do not see fire. See the formula of heat, oxygen, and fuel. And then... rewrite the formula."
[System Activation: Theory "Reality Marble/Coding" detected.][Applying concept to Target: Patel Zola.]
Zola looked at the scroll. His blue eyes began to glow with a faint, blue luminescence. He looked at a falling leaf. Leaf. Green. Mass: 0.5g. Velocity: 2m/s. He twitched his finger. The leaf stopped in mid-air.
"I... I paused it," Zola whispered, terrified.
"You didn't pause it," Senan corrected, feeling like a god. "You just removed its velocity parameter. Keep practicing. If you get a headache, that's just your CPU overheating. Drink water."
Finally, Rameses. The Sanguine boy was practically vibrating with excitement.
"Master! What about me? Am I a Black Hole? Am I a Coder?"
"No," Senan said. "You are an engine. You possess the Thermodynamic Heart."
Senan pointed to the boy's chest. "Every time you move, you generate heat. Every time you get angry, you generate heat. Normally, this heat is wasted. Sweat. Exhaustion."
"Yes?"
"What if you never cooled down?" Senan grinned. "What if you took that waste heat and fed it back into your muscles? An infinite loop of kinetic buildup."
"I would explode," Rameses said.
"Only if you stop," Senan said. "The secret to your power is Momentum. You must never stop moving. As long as you accelerate, you burn. As you burn, you get faster. Velocity Squared."
[System Activation: Theory "Kinetic Accumulation" detected.][Applying concept to Target: Mensah Rameses.]
Rameses clenched his fist. His skin, usually a red clay tone, began to hiss. Steam rose from his shoulders.
"Run," Senan commanded. "Run around the courtyard. Do not stop until the ground turns to glass."
Rameses took off. BOOOM. He broke the sound barrier instantly, slamming into the opposite wall and leaving a crater.
Senan flinched. Okay, maybe I need to teach them 'Brakes' before 'Go'.
He looked at his three disciples: one sinking into the floor, one staring at the matrix code of reality, and one peeling himself off a wall.
Senan stroked his beard. "Class is dismissed. I expect results by Monday. I need to go... verify my salary."
[Mission Complete. +10 Years Life Force.][New Mission: The First Rival. A rival teacher from the Academy challenges your methods.]
Senan groaned. "Can't a scammer get a break?"