THE SCREENING CORRIDOR: FIRST STEPS INTO THE BASIC LEVEL
Mornings in Vasena were nothing like mornings in the outside world. There was no sunrise, no warmth creeping through windows, no gradual shift from night to day. Instead, the lighting system increased its brightness in slow pulses, adjusting itself to the biological rhythms of thousands of gifted children. The change was precise, measured, almost surgical.. like the heartbeat of a massive organism waking from its rest.
Ryu walked beside Aki toward the briefing room for Basic Module One. Both still carried the weight of the previous day's tests. Aki kept holding his bruised ribs from where a metal panel had slammed him. Ryu moved without expression, though every step he took seemed careful.. as if he was silently counting the meters beneath his feet.
"You realize," Aki muttered under his breath, "we passed… but only sixteen of us did. Out of hundreds. Dude, I still feel like I'm stuck in a nightmare."
"Training," Ryu said calmly.
"Training? That was torture." Aki snorted. "Give me two more days and I won't be human anymore."
"Not yet." Ryu kept walking, unfazed. "It's just the beginning."
Aki stared at him, offended. "Why do you say stuff like that with a face that calm?"
Ryu turned slightly. "Because it is the beginning."
The corridor split ahead into multiple lanes, each with towering scanning doors framed by reinforced metal walls. Holographic screens beside them displayed the names of all participants.. sorted into Basic-1, Basic-2, and Non-Operational groups.
Aki spotted the list and nearly choked. "Bro… look. Out of a hundred fifty kids, only a few dozen got into Basic-1."
Ryu glanced briefly. Names two through five were the infiltrators. They stood in the distance, still in their precise 2–2 formation, faces blank. They didn't look at him, but their silence had weight.. like they were watching regardless.
Across the hall, some children whispered.
"That's him… Ryu."
"The one who crashed the mental simulator."
"The one whose graph broke the system."
"Insane… how does he do that?"
Aki nudged Ryu. "People look at you like… like you're an alien."
"I'm not an alien."
"Sure, but your vibe is like… you've been through hell and came back with souvenirs."
Ryu didn't argue. Because it was true.
When they approached the scanning gate, NV pulsed. Ryu frowned. What's the message? Aki noticed Ryu's brief hesitation. "Are you hearing… it again?"
"Not it. Them."
The scanning door slid open with a soft metallic growl and swallowed them into a circular chamber filled with dim light. All Basic-1 participants stood on the wide metal platform.
Then the floor trembled. Cracks opened.. mechanical, intentional.. and the entire platform began to descend like a colossal elevator dropping them into a deeper sector.
Aki shivered. "Ryu… we're definitely going to hell."
"No."
"Then what is this?"
"A training floor."
The platform stopped. Ahead, a massive triple-layered door began to open like the jaws of a mechanical beast.
And Ryu understood. Basic Module One wasn't just physical conditioning.
It was the first professional filter.
THE TACTICAL CHAMBER: FILLED WITH ENEMIES WITHOUT NAMES
The Basic-1 chamber resembled a small arena without seats, its hexagonal walls lined with thousands of hidden sensors. The floor shifted from metallic silver to matte black.. military-grade tactical flooring.
In the center stood the instructor for the day: Lieutenant Sera Vanthe. She looked around thirty, tall, short-haired, and carried an aura sharp enough to cut through silence. Everything about her.. her posture, her gaze, the stillness in her limbs.. screamed "combat veteran."
The room fell quiet immediately. Her voice didn't need volume to command obedience.
"Welcome to Basic-1. Tactical. Physical. Mental." She scanned the children with a cold, steady look. "If you think yesterday was difficult, you were wrong."
Aki swallowed hard. Ryu watched Sera's micro-movements. She moved too efficiently to be anything but someone with dozens of real missions behind her.
Sera raised her wrist, activating a hologram.
"Today's modules are as follows:
1. Navigation Grid - read enemy patterns.
2. Tactical Disruption - disable a zone without tripping core systems.
3. Close-Range Resolve - direct engagement with hostile units.
Aki slowly raised one finger. "Instructor… module three… you mean physical contact? Like… actual physical?"
Sera smiled. It wasn't comforting."Physical. Direct. Full." Aki went pale. "Lord have mercy." The hologram shifted again, displaying pre-assigned groups. Ryu scanned it instantly.
Group 3:
• Ryu
• Aki
• Ratha
• Kallen
• Vex
Aki squeaked. "Dude.. Kallen is tactical genius level. Ratha's a physical tank. Vex is psycho-analysis prodigy. They're all impossible."
"Good," Ryu said.
"GOOD?! For what? Our funeral?"
"The composition fits."
"For WHAT?!"
Ryu glanced at the infiltrators.. they were split into different groups, perfectly distributed. Planned. Intentional. They would observe from afar. Sera's voice boomed again. "Navigation begins. Hostiles will move from the walls. Predict their path.
One mistake… you're out."
The walls rippled. Panels shifted. Then the silhouettes appeared.. black figures, fast, feral, darting like predators with no fixed path. Ratha shouted, "This is impossible.. too fast!" Kallen cursed. "There's no pattern!" Aki panicked. "Bro, this is nuts!"
Ryu closed his eyes.
One.
Two.
Three.
He opened them.
"Not random."
Kallen snapped. "What?!"
"Their movement changes every 0.8 seconds. Left side spiral pattern. Right side vertical zigzags. Center follows our formation."
Ratha blinked. "You saw all that? In two seconds?!"
"Four."
The shadows accelerated. Ryu saw rhythm instead of chaos. "Left incoming. Move."
The team shifted. A silhouette sliced past them harmlessly.
"Right."
Again, they dodged perfectly. Aki almost cried. "You're seeing this like a movie!"
"No. Like a rhythm."
Vex stared. "No normal child sees rhythm in predators moving 200 km an hour."
"Correct."
Two minutes later, the shadows vanished.
Sera's voice echoed:
"Group 3: Passed."
Aki dropped to the ground in relief.
"We're alive… I can't believe we're alive…"
Ratha stared at Ryu with thinly veiled fear.
"You actually read that pattern… that's insane."
Kallen narrowed his eyes. "Insane if you're stupid. He has something else." Vex approached slowly, studying Ryu like a surgeon. "I want to analyze your brain."
Aki jumped. "NO, YOU DO NOT!"
Next, the room darkened. Panels rearranged into a digital labyrinth filled with sensors and pulsing red nodes.
"Tactical Disruption," Sera announced. "Disable the central zone without touching the core panels. One wrong touch.. zone detonates." Aki whimpered. "We're going to die." Ryu stepped forward. "No. Simulation."
"Simulation that will kill my spirit!"
Kallen analyzed the wires. "This puzzle is insane." Ratha gritted his teeth. "Puzzle? This is a minefield!" Ryu knelt beside a sensor. "The panels emit waves every 1.4 seconds. The floor cables drop to minimal charge during the dip. That's our window."
Kallen froze. "Where are you seeing that?"
"Sound."
Vex stared. "Sound waves from electricity? That's absurd." Ryu studied the central zone.
"They randomized panel timing, but the frequency of the sound is constant."
Aki pleaded, "Okay genius, what do WE do?"
"Go behind."
"Behind what?!"
"The main structure. Lowest charge point."
Kallen checked the map. "He's right."
Ratha looked horrified. "Should I be proud or terrified?" They followed Ryu through impossibly narrow gaps. Aki tripped twice, and each time Ryu grabbed his collar before he triggered a panel.
"Slower," Ryu muttered.
"I AM slow! The floor is like oil!"
"You're breathing too much. Reduce it."
"WHAT - YOU WANT ME TO STOP BREATHING?!"
At last, they reached the core. Only one final panel remained.. sensitive, deadly, a single mistake away from an explosion.
"Kallen," Ryu said quietly. "Activate it from the right. Not the left."
"Why?"
"Left connects to the core. Right doesn't."
Kallen flipped it. The entire grid dropped into standby. Sera announced "Group 3. Complete."
Aki slumped down in dramatic relief.
"We're alive again…" Ratha watched Ryu with unnerving caution. "Bro… you're an anomaly, aren't you?"
Ryu did not reply.
CLOSE-RANGE CONTACT: PAIN THAT SHAPES A WEAPON
The arena transformed once more. Lights shifted into a cold bluish hue, casting sterile shadows across the circular floor. The atmosphere thickened, heavy with tension.
Sera stood in the center. "Module Three: Close-Range Resolve." Every child stiffened. "No simulations. No holograms. This test measures how your body responds to real threats."
Aki shook. "Oh no… no no no..."
A massive metallic door opened.
From inside marched five humanoid robots.. full height, matte white armor, glowing blue stripes. Their hands carried non-lethal batons, though one strike from them was enough to break bone.
Aki collapsed. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"
Sera explained without emotion. "You will survive for three minutes. These are the weak models. At Intermediate level, you will face full-power units."
Vex whispered, trembling. "Combat robots… against children." Ryu stepped forward.
"Strategy?"
Kallen snapped into tactical mode. "We form a circle. Keep moving." Ratha raised his fists. "I can handle one." Vex scanned the lights. "We need to disrupt their sensors somehow."
Aki shouted, panicked, "I.. I can only run!"
Ryu analyzed the robots' joints, speed, and micro-pauses. "Aki stays behind. Vex, focus on sensors. Kallen, Ratha.. left and right. I'll take point."
Aki screamed, "YOU'LL WHAT?!"
Ryu lowered his stance. "Front."
NV cut in sharply.
Ryu nodded slightly. "Thank you." Aki flailed. "STOP talking to invisible things!" Sera blew her whistle. "Begin."
The first robot lunged at Ryu. Its baton sliced toward his head with frightening speed.
Ryu tilted his body by a hair's breadth. No panic. No wasted motion. The baton passed within inches of his face.
The second robot struck Ratha. The blow knocked him back, but he stayed standing. Kallen swept the third robot's leg joint, forcing it off-balance. Vex scrambled to open a small side panel.
Aki sprinted in circles, screaming, "I'M STILL ALIVE! I'M STILL ALIVE!"
A robot cornered him.
Aki tripped, terrified.
The robot lifted its baton..
Ryu darted in, grabbed Aki's collar, and yanked him aside. The baton slammed into the floor with a metallic crack. Ryu struck the robot's hip servo with an open palm. The machine jerked but didn't fall.
"Shoulder!" Vex shouted. "Hit the shoulder!"
Ryu drove a precise kick into the joint.
The servo ruptured.. sparks flashed. One robot down. Ratha destroyed another with brute force. Kallen disabled a third with a perfectly timed strike. Vex ripped out a sensor node from a fourth.
Only one remained. The fastest. The most aggressive. It locked onto Ryu instantly.
The baton whirled like a blade.
Ryu didn't evade.
He watched its rhythm..
One.
Two.
Three.
The strike came. Ryu ducked under it, stepped inside the robot's guard, and delivered a three-point combination..
Elbow to the shoulder joint. Knee to the hip servo. Rotational shove to the center mass.
SNAP!
The robot collapsed. The arena fell silent.
Sera stared at Ryu for a long moment.
Then she spoke.
"Group 3. Passed.
Rank one for today."
Aki collapsed and cried tears of joy.
"We're alive! ALIIIIVE!"
Ratha looked at Ryu like he was staring at a creature from another dimension. Kallen remained speechless. Vex approached slowly. "One day," he whispered, "I will study your brain."
"No," Ryu replied flatly. Sera stepped forward, eyes sharp. "..you're different."
Ryu gave no reaction. Then NV pulsed.
"What order?" Ryu whispered. NV answered in a tone colder than any before:
Ryu lifted his head slightly. His eyes sharpened. Not anger.. focus. Pure, lethal focus. Aki came up beside him, oblivious.
"Uh… bro? Why do you look like you're about to fight a planet?"
Ryu didn't move.
Because today he understood something with absolute clarity. The enemy was no longer watching. They were beginning to act.
And their first move was to test the limits
of the anomaly named Ryu.