After the dinner, Alex made sure that his door was locked.
He turned off all the lights in the room, opened his phone's camera, and looked at the screen as he moved around. "The last thing I need is for there to be a hidden camera." Scoffing, he turned on the lights after he was sure there was none.
Alex pulled the book out of his bag. If he couldn't control the rate of energy consumption for now, he'd see to it that he'd at least advance.
"The translator should have had better handwriting. Sometimes it's hard to see this thing." He sighed as he squinted his eyes to read the text on the next page.
It read:
"The gift of Hermes isn't divine in itself but merely a failed expression of this power."
But below it, was a warning:
"Be warned, because it seems so doesn't mean the world is slow. A mere fly can smite you down."
Unlike the description of the next part, the warning had no prior writing in the original language. Whoever translated it wrote it himself to warn whoever would stumble upon it.
Alex let out a wry smile, 'This seems very dangerous but for some reason, all I can think of is the super speed that I'll get.'
He turned the page to the diagram and almost had a nosebleed at how much more complex it was than the primary one.
The image was of a human, but most of its body was covered in red lines. 'Okay, it's not as bad as I thought it was. Some are just branches of the one that I've already made.'
But another issue began to prick the back of Alex's mind. How would he be able to activate the super speed without augmenting his physical strength and vice versa?
'In the end, it all comes back to having a superior control of the energy from my core.' He groaned and lay on the bed.
Without bothering to let himself relax, Alex shoved the book back into his bag.
"I have to work on my control before I proceed." He groaned and closed his eyes to imagine himself in front of cameras and thousands screaming his name. Soon, he fell asleep to the same dream.
'Alex! Alex!! Alex…' His fans screamed in a thunderous unison.
"ALEX!!!" A loud voice jolted him from bed, and he immediately threw a fist at the person, but Tony avoided it.
He stared at Alex, who still blinked rapidly to shake off his drowsiness, "Who wakes up and goes fist-swinging?"
Alex inhaled deeply to calm his racing heart.
He rubbed his eye for the umpteenth time in a minute and muttered an apology.
"That's not important, get dressed. We have received a letter to be ready by 10am, but it'll be good for us if we get there by 8 instead." Tony walked out of the room, leaving Alex to his thoughts.
A smile plastered itself on Alex's face, "I am going to believe that the dream was a premonition."
He stood up and walked to the door of the closet, which he had only noticed later.
Inside was a black tracksuit with the image of a golden lion with a mane made of flames embroidered, or rather, there were six tracksuits, one for each day they'd spend there.
Alex walked into the bathroom and freshened up before putting on the tracksuit. The material was so soft and light that he would have happily traded his clothes for just a pair of those.
"This will soon be my life." He sighed and walked out of his room.
Gary was already waiting by the door for him, "Took you long enough." He scoffed and walked out of the house.
Alex kept silent and followed closely behind as they passed the same route used to lead them to their residence.
The field, unlike the last time they were there, was completely fine with a pristine flora.
They soon stood before the castle and entered without much fanfare.
"Let's knock." Tony adjusted his tracksuit before raising a knuckle to the door but before he knocked, the door swung open.
Prince and Layla were standing on the other side, "Oh? It seems that you are capable of punctuality." Layla mused, "Don't worry a single hair on your head. Our Principal has more important matters to attend to… I believe someone called him about watering a plant." Prince callously added with a smug smile.
"When I heard of the 'star products' of this school, I had assumed that they were the best…" Alex started, eyeing them intently.
"But it seems like the supply line as a whole produces faulty goods. So is the best the very worst of the constant failings of an industry or the mediocre amongst the worst?"
Tony smirked, "Perhaps we'll never know." He answered Alex's question.
Prince and Layla gritted their teeth and a faint sonic pulse left Layla. Prince held her hand and sent her a meaningful side glance.
He pointed at Alex's squinted eyes and light smirk that screamed: 'I dare you to try to hurt me.'
If Layla fell for his bait and tried to attack, she'd most likely succeed, but at what cost? Her enrollment? Her future? Her entire life could be flipped over because of a single person.
'He is very dangerous.' Tony and Prince noted at the same time but before the tension in the air could fully manifest, a heavy presence filled the air.
Dr. Aris Thorne walked up the dark hallway and came into view, "Ah. You're both ready, good. We are leaving now."