Jean laid still on an operating table as the Brown’s placed multiple microsensors along Jean’s body.

“Mrs. Brown, what’d you say these were supposed to do?”

Evelynn placed a micro-sensor onto Jean’s forehead. In the process, two bright lights shining through her headlamp nearly blinded Jean.

“They are meant to monitor all of your bodies conditions to the most minute detail,”

“So yes, we’ll know everything,” Elton added.

“Uhh, okay,”

Jean was at a loss for words. This was the first time he was experiencing anything like this and had him filled with thoughts of confusion. Jean couldn’t help but continue to ask questions to get a better grasp of the situation he was in.

“So what’s this ‘potential’ thing I keep hearing about?”

“Simply put, ‘potentials’ are like genetic personality traits. To a certain extent, they dictate an individual's personality, skills, and physical capabilities. You’ll find that hunters have a ‘potential’ that enhances combat prowess while people like Elton and I possess a ‘potential’ that leans more towards intellectual expertise,”

“I see. So is it something in my body?”

Elton turned off the overhead lamp off with one hand while pulling down his surgical mask with the other.

“Yup. It’s actually a crystallized vein in your body that alters your all of your blood cells as it flows through it,”

Evelynn helped Jean sit up and handed him a black suit.

“You’ll eventually hear the rest of this down the road, so for now focus on the tests,”

Jean looked down at the suit sitting in his hands. At first glance, one might assume that it was a flimsy piece of cloth. However, the quality of the suit indicated it was used for situations such as this. The canvas fabric added a significant amount of weight to the suit and the pockets lining the waist and chest pockets were packed with two-pound weights, making the suit even heavier.

“Get into that and we’ll lower ourselves into the training room,”

Jean got off the operation table and began to put the suit on over his underwear. After zipping up the front of the suit and buckling in the weights, Elton pulled a lever that caused the entire room to shake momentarily. There was a shift in the stone as the sound of gears turning started to bleed into the room.

As the room went lower, the large glass wall gave vision into a massive room with dark gray metallic tiles. There were multiple lights lining the walls giving a bright white hue into the otherwise gray-colored room.

“We’re going to start with your most basic physical capabilities,” Evelynn said.

The room finally came to an abrupt halt as the glass wall slid open to give way into the massive training room.

“Step out and wait for our instructions,”

Jean walked out into the training room. When he reached the center of the room, the glass wall slid shut as the two doctors stood behind a console in the elevator room. After a few moments, the two doctors’ voice began to come from a speaker in the training room.

“Give us a thumbs up if you can hear us,”

Jean gave them a thumbs up.

After seeing the signal, the Browns began to push buttons. The tiles in the training room started to shift, raising and lowering different platforms along the floor and the walls. Jean nearly lost his balance the moment the tile he was standing on began shifting downwards.

“Jean, the tiles are going to keep moving, your goal is to maneuver the moving tiles and get to the red flag,”

Jean looked up at the walls. Along the wall to his right sat an unmoving platform with a red flag protruding out of the top.

Why the hell is it so far up!?

“You’re on the clock Jean! Get moving!”

Jean’s eye’s darted to a timer installed into the elevator room. Seeing that he was already four seconds into the test, he immediately shifted his attention to the situation at hand. His eyes scanned the moving platforms. As his focus narrowed, he could begin to notice the movement of the tiles slowing down. As he took a step forward, he snapped out of the concentration he was holding up until now. Jean felt a spark go through his mind.

Am I able to react faster? Is that why things started to slow down?

Jean took no longer than a second to return to a mode of concentration. Once more the world around him started to slow by a fraction of a second. He shifted his body towards the lowest standing tile and bent his knees preparing to jump for it. As the weight of his body leaned into his toes, unbeknownst to Jean, he left behind large cracks in the spots his feet leaped from.

Jean stretched his arms out attempting to grab the ledge of the platform only to find himself flying higher above the platform he intended to grab onto. As he dropped down towards the platform, he tucked himself and fell into a roll. He used the roll to recover into a sprint. However, Jean found his stride and speed to be much greater than he was used to and ended up sprinting into a platform in front of him. Jean shook off the dizziness and looked for the nearest and easiest platform he could get on. Spotting one, he jumped toward it.

Jean managed to grab hold of the ledge. However, as he attempted to pull himself up, a shocking amount of strength filled his fingers. Jean ended up flinging himself up past the platform. Managing to get as high as to reach the tallest standing platform in the room. He spotted the platform with the flag and began sprinting towards it. His track experience helped him leap across the platforms and maintain his momentum.

The platform separating Jean and the red flag had a gap of what seemed to be at least twenty-five feet across. Putting faith in his newfound physical strength, he increased the speed of his sprint. Taking his last footstep forward at the edge of the platform, he dove towards the red flag. Despite his best efforts, Jean found himself suspended in midair, not even halfway towards the flag. The instant he realized that he had completely missed the mark, gravity decided to start working again.

Jean plummeted towards the floor of the room headfirst. Evelynn began to rapidly push buttons as Elton prepared materials for first-aid. The platforms halted in place, as Jean’s body fell out of sight behind them. There was an audible thud that resonated within the training hall. Evelynn fiddled with a few more buttons before the platforms began to recede back into the ground, leveling them out.

The sliding glass wall opened as the two doctors rushed out to where Jean was lying down. As the two approached, the groaning of a boy who's had the wind knocked out of them entered their ears.

Evelynn and Elton looked down at Jean who was wide awake, but clearly in back-breaking pain. Elton got down to help Jean sit up. Evelynn also kneeled down with a clipboard in her hand.

“How do you feel right now?”

Jean spoke through his clenched teeth.

“Like my back is broken,”

Elton laughed as he responded;

“You’ll only feel like that for a moment,”

Jean couldn’t help but give Elton a glowering look. Elton responded with a wry look.

“Your body is going to recover those momentarily, give it a second,”

As Elton began to help Jean stand up, Jean could feel the pain his back start to subside. He flattened out his back and stretched his shoulders.

“How’s your back now?”

“Completely healed…” Jean replied with surprise.

“For now, we’re going to mark this test as incomplete,” said Evelynn.

Jean simply nodded in agreement. It was obvious to himself that he still didn’t fully understand the powers that came with being half-beast. Right now the most he could attempt to do was to gauge just how far he could go with this.

“We’ve gotten enough initial data for your bodies speed and agility levels. The next test we’ll perform is a grip and strength test,”

“Just throw the ball really hard and grip the pole really tight,” added Elton.

The two doctors walked back into the elevator room as the glass wall closed behind them. After fiddling with a few more buttons, a baseball was tossed out of a small opening in the floor. Jean caught the ball as it descended from its launch. Three targets of varying sizes, ranging from large to small, sprung out from the walls of the test room. They were clearly made of thick and durable metal and the denseness of the targets themselves matched that of a steel beam.

“Try to throw the baseball at the targets with as much power as you can,” said Evelynn through the speakers.

Jean recalled the sensation he felt back at the school. He tossed the baseball a couple times before getting into position. He imagined all the power in his body funneling itself into his throwing arm. He took a step forward and threw the baseball, just as he did before with the rock.

The ball jettisoned from his fingertips, leaving behind a trail of its visible mirror image. Before the doctors could trace the throw itself, the largest target shattered apart. Jean couldn’t help but stare at his hands in disbelief. It was one thing to experience it through pure adrenaline, but it was another to see and feel it while he was fully aware and conscious.

The doctors behind the glass stared at the destruction in awe. Evelynn snapped out of her surprised state and pressed a button that seemed to provide Jean with another baseball.

“Same thing Jean,” said Evelynn.

Jean repeated the same process as before, but this time aiming for a much smaller target. He threw the baseball and again, the ball traveled at lightning speed, shattering the medium sized target. This time it seemed as though the ball itself shattered as it impacted the target. There were no visible remains of the baseball, just the large metal pieces of the target fell to the floor in heavy thuds.

One more ball was given to Jean as this time the doctors tasked him with hitting the smallest target. This time, Jean focused his vision on the small target before throwing the ball. Upon release, a barely audible dink echoed throughout the room. Jean looked at the target in confusion. Jean looked towards the two doctors to see Elton give Jean a look of equal confusion.

But, their confusion was immediately met with realization as to what had actually occurred. There was a clean hole made through the small target. If someone were to place a baseball in that hole, it would fit perfectly. Yet, the most relevant realization that was made, was the massive cracks lining the wall behind the target.

Elton’s adjusted his glasses and looked to his wife.

“Did he just throw the ball through the target and break the wall behind it?”

Evelynn smiled and responded;

“It appears that’s the case,”