Altered Cosmos

Chapter 14; Analyze

The very next morning was cool and chilling yet also hot with the anticipation of the physical test of the Tron College Entrance exams.

Under the sheets, a concealed figure tossed and turned before he eventually sat up with a long yawn and occasionally rubbing of the head.

Felix turns with sleepy eyes to the white-haired figure in the room who was performing push-ups.

“Dude.” Levi stops and turns to Felix with a slightly sweaty face. “It’s like…5 in the morning.”

“Actually.” Levi chuckled as he stood up, tapped on his interface and swiped it over to Felix who squints to see the time. “It’s almost eight.”

Felix rubs his eyes a couple of times before shrugging once he sees the time again. “Huh.” He swipes the interface back to Levi who began to select a new song to listen to.

Some minutes later, Felix was still scrolling through his interface before glancing at Levi still working out. “The physical test’s not that big of a deal.”

“Oh, I know.” He said as he cracks his neck and stands up. “This is just my normal workout.”

Felix gives Levi a sceptic brow. “You do that, every morning? I find that hard to believe.”

Levi chuckles as he glances at his not too muscular figure and walks over to his bed. “I do slack off a lot but I’m not really looking forward to being…big.” He gestured with body flexes and a laugh.

“But it’s still fun to look good.” Levi said with a smile as he swings his towel over his shoulder while Felix rolls his eyes at him.

“Whatever you say.” He sighed as Levi grabs his toothbrush and heads into the small bathroom door in the room. 

Time flies by and by 10am, Levi and Felix were almost finished dressing up for the exams. Felix who now wore a red tee-shirt with a pair of black jeans and his headband, spoke while tying his sneakers.

“How many tests do we have to do, anyway?”

Levi adjusts his black sweat pants and blue-white sleeveless hoodie before turning to Felix. “Four.” He groaned as he straps on his grey sneakers before bouncing on his feet a little to test the comfortability. “I heard the results are displayed 5 hours later.”

“We ‘are’ over a thousand trons going for the same college.” Felix chuckled as he stood up and takes a look of himself in the mirror. He turns around as he adjusts his belt and sees Levi throwing his hood over his head.

“Why’re you covering your hair? It’s awesome.”

Levi chuckles as he turns to Felix. “Yeah but it’s too attracting. I don’t want people staring at me like the written exams yesterday.”

“They will once you use your powers though.” Felix said and Levi lets out a laugh as Felix heads for the door. “You ready?”

Levi checks himself out one last time before letting out a long sigh. “Let’s get this over with.” Felix nods and walks out the door with Levi behind him.

Minutes later, they walk across the compound surrounded by thousands of other trons towards an even larger building. The Index logo boldly visible over the large main entrance.

After they stepped into the building, several stations were seen where security officers scanned the trons before they are allowed through the large passage.

After about 10 minutes of boring waiting, Levi and Felix were scanned and instantly, a notification pings on their Index bands.

Levi opens his interface and sees a list from Index HQ indicating the four physical tests they were about to take with the result slots left empty.

The security official fixes a stern face at Levi as he explained. “There are four separate locations for the tests. Once you get there, the officers will input your results and the compiled list will be automatically submitted to HQ once completed.”

Levi nods and closes his interface. “Thanks.” He said as he moves away for the next tron to be scanned. He pulls up the interface again and stares at the tests.

<4 tests. Strength, Speed, Sense and Energy Output. Hmmm.> He thought just as Felix throws an arm over him with a smile. “Hey. So what test are you starting first?”

Felix squints at Levi’s interface and steps away with a laugh. “I’m going over to the Energy output test first. Since that is my speciality.” He chuckled proudly and Levi rolls his eyes.

“Well, I’m heading over to the speed test first.”

“Of course you are.” Felix scoffed and Levi laughs. “Anyway, good luck.” 

“Same.” Levi said as he gives Felix a fist-bump before parting ways. Levi decided to follow a certain group of people and later found himself in the strength section.

He glances to the side when he senses a massive energy output and watches as a guy throws his fist into a large machine with a foam-like anterior and after a few seconds, the screen above the machine displays the force of his punch.

“Dope…” Levi mumbled and decided to take this test instead of the speed test. 

After minutes of waiting and seeing his competition, it was finally his turn. The official stationed there scans his band and Levi smiles as he steps up to the punching machine.

He closes his eyes and takes in a deep breath as he slides his foot and arm back with blue energy radiating from his fist.

The instant he opens his eyes; he throws his fist into the machine with enough force to create a gust of wind in front of him.

“51,000 pounds. Impressive.” The other guard stationed there commented and Levi steps aside with a wide grin as another tron prepares to punch the device.

Levi opens his interface and chuckles at the score on his strength test. “Too easy…” He mumbled and just as he was about to close the interface, he flinches at the sound of a loud crash.

He turns to a station, two stands away where he recognises a familiar brunette giving an apologetic look to the two officials there……. who stare in shock at the completely trashed punching machine with a largely indented wall behind it.

MJ catches Levi’s stare and grins as she waves at him. “Damn.” He chuckled as he waves back before going to the next station.

The next station he found was the Speed section, where each station had a 100 metre sprint course with a display screen at the other end.

Levi joins the shortest line and glances ahead where a lady prepares to run. The speed official nods at his co-worker and speaks up.

“On your mark…Get set. Go!” The lady takes off with a gush of wind and she crosses the finish line about 4 seconds later with her top speed being displayed on the screen. 

“55.9 miles per hour.” Levi mumbled with a slight shrug as the line moves forward until it was his turn next.

The guard scans his band and Levi glances at the course with a smug on his face. <At least, this gives me a chance to know my top speed.>

“Alright. Go ahead.” The guard said as he dropped the device for scanning and taps on the tablet on the table beside him. Levi steps on the starting line and takes in a deep breath with his eyes focused at the finish line. “Okay. Ready, set…”

Electricity suddenly crackles around his body with a faint blue aura around him as he entered a runner pose. “Go!”

The instant he said the word ‘go’, Levi was already past the finish line with the loud sound of thunder following behind him. He lets out a sigh as the blue electricity in his eyes and body fades away just as he hears some gasps behind him. 

“220,000,000 miles per hour?!” Someone behind exclaims in shock.

He glances at the screen and raises a brow at the long number displayed. “Lightning speed huh.” He turns back to the people behind him with a little shrug. <Guess that makes sense.>

He then notices the countless stares at him both from his station and other stations which was mostly because of his white hair which was now revealed because his hood had fallen off due to his speed. 

“You… you may proceed.” The guard said with a partly shocked expression and Levi moves aside with a sigh.

As he puts his hood back on, a smile forms on his face. “Let’s see someone top that.” The moment he muttered that phrase, another set of loud gasps and shockwave s were heard behind him.

He turns to see that another tron had just ran the course with hands in his pockets…and the figure ‘230,000,000 miles per hour’ displayed on the screen.

<You’ve got to be kidding me.> Levi thought as the tron locks eyes with Levi with a smug on his face. Levi smirks at the brunette guy and turns away with an even wider smile.

<This place is crazy.> He said to himself as he moves forward, in search of the next test cite. 

After a quick bathroom break, he was on a path towards the next test when he suddenly sensed a figure watching him.

But the instant he turns to locate the figure, the presence disappears and Levi looks around with a suspicious expression before moving along like nothing happened.

The next test Levi took was the Energy output test where he was placed in a large transparent spherical chamber similar to that of the Spectron.

There, the official by the controls spoke. “Alright. Fire out the maximum amount of energy you possibly can.”

“Can it be a gear?” Levi asked.

“Sure. Ready?” Levi nods and the official taps some keys, causing the outlines of the chamber to glow slightly. He gives Levi a thumb-up and Levi closes his eyes with hands stretched out beside him.

A moment later, blue energy oozes out from his body and after a deep breath, he throws his hands down simultaneously causing the energy to transform into electricity, covering the entire chamber in lightning bright enough to completely illuminate his figure like a disco ball.

He then stops and the official nods as a figure appears on his screen. “Thank you. Next.”

Levi nods and steps down as his energy level drops to normal just as he felt a powerful energy presence at the next station where a young Asian lady was seen releasing so much energy that the chamber began to shake and crack.

“Damn.” Levi mumbled as he continues to stare at the girl until she steps out of the partially cracked chamber before heading to his last location.

A few directions later, Levi finds himself in a large hallway surrounded by other trons where several stations were positioned on both sides but after scanning, trons enter a door just past these stations.

Levi stops by a station where he catches a female tron enter into one of these doors and the display screen above them displayed a large white painted room where the female he just saw walk through a door was now standing in.

“Levi.” He turns to see Felix walking up to him with hands in his pockets. “Is this your last test?”

“Yeah. Have you done it?” Levi asked, gesturing to the screen and Felix nods.

“Just got out of it. It’s crazy.” Felix said just a buzzer sound goes off beside them and Levi watches as the girl began lazily dodging some discs being shot out of the walls around her.

“So how does this work?” Levi asked with folded arms and a curious look at Felix who smiles.

“The point of this test is to test your ability to sense those discs coming at you and dodge them. Every two minutes, the discs' speed and number increases.”

Levi nods when he realises that the girl was dodging the discs more seriously which seemed to have increased in speed and number. 

“So how do they score you?” Levi asked with a glance at Felix who nods as he responds.

“The disc speed has ten levels. Each level is worth 10 points. Make it to the last level and you get a perfect hundred.” 

Levi gives Felix a raised brow as he spoke. “What did you get?”

Felix lets out an embarrassed laugh as he answers with a hand on his head. “50, barely.” Levi chuckles and Felix playfully punches his shoulder with a laugh. “Sensory skills aren’t my speciality.”

Levi chuckles before noticing how fast the discs were now moving with the girl dodging with even greater speeds.

After the disc speed crosses 60, Levi saw how hard the girl worked to dodge the discs. She dodges two more discs before smashing another one with a punch.

“You can break the discs?” Levi asked Felix who shrugs.

“Yeah. As long as you use only your hands to attack them. You can use gears too but not ones that will continuously protect you like a barrier.”

The test goes on for a short while until the girl flips to the side and leaps into the air to evade two more discs…just as a disc suddenly smashes into her back and she grits her teeth as she flips onto her feet upon landing just as a buzzer goes off.

Levi looks up at the score of the girl and raises a sceptic brow. “70…Not bad.” 

Felix chuckles as he smacks Levi’s back. “Whatever. I have a speed test to get to.” Levi laughs as Felix walks away while he goes over to take the test. 

Almost 30 minutes later, Levi finds himself in the very large testing room. He looks around the completely white room with blue glowing corners and no security cameras in sight yet he still felt like several eyes were on him.

“Alright, Levi.” He jumps a little at the loud sound of a man in the room. “There are a ten levels from 10-100. Your goal is to make sure none of the discs hit you until you reach level 100. They are created using Photron energy so it should be easy for you to detect but the speeds and rate of their fire will increase with each level."

Levi nods attentively. "You can either evade or destroy the discs with your hands or gears but you’ll be stopped if they hit any other part of your body or you use a protective gear like barriers to block the discs. Do you understand?”

Levi flashes a thumb-up and a sudden buzzing sound was heard in the room. “Okay, then. Good luck.” A screen just above the entrance into the room flashes from 100 and Levi gets ready as the number drops slowly until it lands on 10 just as a buzzer sound fills the room.

Levi stands with caution as nothing happens…when he suddenly sensed a disc and easily weaves to the side as it flies past him and shatters to the ground.

He moves forward this time as another disc flies past him before side-stepping as another disc weaves past him. 

Minutes later, he noticed that the discs were little faster and he glances at the screen which now read ‘20’.

Time passes by again as Levi continues to smoothly evade the discs with everyone close by watching the screen. 30…40…50…60…

At this point, the disc speeds and number were even greater compared to some minutes ago with Levi now straining to evade them all. 

He flips to the side as three disc collide into the ground he was standing on and he quickly weaves back as another disc flies past his face but he couldn’t see the two disc flying towards the back of his head.

As everyone watches in suspense as the discs were about to collide with his head… Levi suddenly ducks, leaving the discs to slightly whisk past his hair which was now exposed as electricity suddenly crackles around his body. 

<No fooling around anymore.> He thought as he began to move around in his Static shell with greater speed compared to the discs.

In the midst of this, some interesting looking trons including some of the ones Levi noticed earlier arrived and saw a crowd of people watching a particular screen.

They approached and were amazed to see a certain white-haired figure dodging several fast moving objects. 

It was now Level 80 but Levi didn’t notice because his eyes were closed yet he continues to accurately pinpoint, locate and evade each individual disc hurling towards him using his superior energy detection skills and the holographic imaging of his environment he had in his mind.

He weaves past a disc and quickly smacks another disc aside with his Viper’s fist technique, his movements extremely elegant and fluid yet quick and reflexive.

The rate of fire increases again and Levi’s speed increases to evade the faster threats.

He leaps upwards to dodge some discs before twisting his form mid-air, allowing some discs to smoothly weave over his body…he suddenly spins and grabs one of the disc flying past him before hurling it into another, shattering them both as he lands on the ground.

“Is that even allowed?” A tron commented as he watches Levi continue to evade attacks and use the attacks against themselves all with a calm look on his face.

Levi creases his brow as he smashes another disc with his palm before grabbing another one heading for him and jumps into the air to avoid others.

As more head for him with greater speeds than ever, Levi coats the disc in his hand with electricity and fires it at the others destroying 5 of them at once.

He then fires a bolt of lightning mid-air at another set of flying discs and performs a quick back-flip to avoid another set just as the loud buzzer sound goes off. “No way.” 

Levi lands on a knee with hands crossed as he prepared for more of the discs…but there was nothing. He opened his eyes as he stood up and the electricity on his body fade out once he saw the score.

“Damn.” He said with a proud grin and a tightly clenched fist as he stares at the number ‘100’ displayed on the screen. 

“Thank you, Levi. You can go.” The voice in the room said and Levi nods as he walks toward the door and throws his hood on before stepping out.

As he moved past the others, he could feel the stares of everyone around him which ‘could’ be because he got a perfect score but he just shrugs it off and walks away.

He opens his interface and realises that the test form had already been submitted. “Guess all that’s left is to wait.” He sighed as he closed the interface and after trying but failing to find Felix or MJ, he headed back to his room.