Darion was discharged from the hospital that very same day, and after a day of rest, he was qualified to do the long hike once more.

By talking with his bunkmates and fellow victims of this torture slash training, Darion learned that the hike is not only a hike but also an obstacle course right in the end. It turned out that Darion was not the only one who did not finish the course.

The day after that, Darion and the rest were again roused very early in the morning and forced to do the hike once more. This time, he felt he is as ready as he could ever be.

He started in a quick jog that earned him some jeers from his group mates. What they didn’t know is that this is an easy pace for Darion and he is not only trying to break away but to warm up his body.

Either way, within a quarter of an hour, Darion started to sprint seriously. He successfully breaks away from the rest of the group of runners and is now alone in the path.

That is when he started using his super-speed once more. He zigzagged the two-car lane dirt road to help himself get acquainted with maneuvering at high speed.

Twice, he tripped and had a nasty tumble but he always get back up, dust himself as best he can, and started running again.

He is a bit worried about other surveillance and he kept his eyes open. Twice he found hidden wireless cameras on top of trees and he had to run normally within their vicinities. Once he spotted an AUV drone up high in the sky that it is nothing but a dot.

Luckily, his growing perception ability made him notice it and he acted appropriately. Meaning that he didn’t do anything out of the ordinary.

He is just another dude doing nothing but strolling along in a path to hell.

With his senses still high, he felt someone coming at break necking speed.

“On your le-EEFFFTTT!” Akiko shouted when Darion suddenly trip the speedster coming around his… well, left. He did it covertly by using his telekinesis powers.

Her momentum made her fly forward and only Darion’s telekinetic hold kept her aloft in the air and escaped a face mopping the uneven ground,

“Gaaahh!! Thanks, Darion. That could have been ugly. Hell, I could have been ugly!” Akiko said horrific realization.

Darion gently lowered the girl. The moment she is on the ground, she started checking herself for any injury, and then she started jogging in place as if she cannot wait to get going, but the smile on her face was genuine. "Well, I gotta go!"

“Wait!” Darion said, stopping her from going. “You owe me from the save, so I want you to tell me something about how your power works, as payment.”

“Eh? What would you like to know that?” she asked, curiously.

Darion just shrugs. “I’m a tinkerer,” He said simply. “I like knowing things. And your power is really interesting.”

The girl nodded. Ever since they started this boot camp, Darion has been acing every test and quizzes given to them.

He already confessed that he wasn’t like this before, and his instructor just nodded.

One of the military scientists explained this to them during a lecture. “Although many of the powers already shown to us are all wide-ranging and diverse, we were still able to deduce certain patterns in local growths and evolution.

Darion here is a perfect example of this theory. He is manifesting psionic powers that are normally attributed to evolving brain muscles. That is why it is no leap of fate that he is also showing great signs of mental acuity and focus. That is why we are categorizing him as a basic tinkerer class.

Although his telekinetic skills are … interesting enough, we are more interested in how his mental fortitude would improve in the future. That is why we are assigning you to study more specialized subjects later and giving you access to the base library and limited internet access.

If you can improve upon your talent in the future, this will become a great advantage for you since many companies are willing to sponsor you, even the US military.”

Another guy named Jeff Fowler raised a hand. “What are the other classes you have mentioned?”

“Well, in case you are wondering, you Mr. Fowler are classified as a Strongman since your muscles are evolving in a path that makes you more powerful than a standard Olympic athlete.”

“And me?” Akiko asked next.

“Why Ms. Fushida, you are obviously a speedster.”

The doctor elaborated on other classes, such as summoners, acrobats, shapeshifters, and Essence manipulators, when the students started asking more and more questions about their own capability.

There was a bit of an argument when he introduces more obscure and contentious classifications like enhancers, a person who uses the essence to increase either his or her speed, strength or any other capabilities to fight better. Akiko debated that if they specialized their essence enhancements in a certain way like, say speed like her, then the person should still be considered a speedster. Or a strongman if he enhances strength.

“And if the person enhances both? Or use other multiple enhancements? No, it is already too complex as it is. The best way is to understand the source of one’s power and based the classification to that.”

Akiko sighed at him. “I don’t like owing any guy a favor,” she said, as she crossed her arms over her chest. “What do you wanna know?”

“How do you turn at high speed? It looks so smooth and yet the physics doesn’t support it.”

Akiko blinked and then a genuine smile blooms over her face.

By observing her these past 2 weeks and while interacting with the others, Darion immediately understood that the girl is proud of her powers, and anyone showing real interest in how it works is something she will gladly answer. Of course, stroking her ego by stating that she is doing something so easy while other people find it very very hard, helps a bit too.

“I think I can see why my cool speedster powers look so complicated to you brainiacs, and it is,” she said smugly. “But you are right, there is a method to the technique we use.”

Darion leaned closer, hiding his eagerness as best he could. “Go on…”