Aden smiled wide as he stared at the school in front of him

It had been a while since Aden had been saved from the hospital bed.

Heck, it had been longer since he still remembered his folks.

Not now, we already grieved, it's time to move on. We can walk! We got a new body! Things are good!

He was taking his entrance exam. He was finally able to go to college, finally free of medical tests and that antiseptic smell that always made him gag.

It was like waking up from a nightmare.

Still though, some of the things in that nightmare stayed true.

Like his mom and dad dying, melting in front of him.

His sister’s pained face whenever she visited him.

Those still scarred him, those vivid images.

Aden shook his head, those times sure happened, but he was finally free of the hospital.

This was where he changed his life.

...

Aden took a breath as he took his pencil in hand.

In front of him stood a piece of paper, with questions from various fields of study.

Yet, as he was filling it all out, he couldn’t help but think it was all so…

Easy!

What the heck is this? Am I putting in the wrong answers?

New Terra University was said to be one of the top five learning institutes in the whole world, yet these questions came too easy.

Aden was starting to think he was getting the answers wrong, until he was checking the people around him.

Panicked faces. Looks of despair. Resignation and defeat.

Every last one of them.

Aden had been studying for the months leading up to this test, so he figured he had a good chance at passing it.

As is though, he was starting to worry he might be the only one passing.

Enough, concentrate.

He shook his head and got back to it.

…

“P-Perfect score?!”

Aden was sitting across from a group of two teachers and the headmistress, all of whom were either staring at the papers in the mistress' hands or glaring at him like he was holding drugs.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

The middle one was a woman with a tag that read Lorelei, while the ones to her right and left were Hankson and Bittlebody.

“Did you cheat young man?”

The one who spoke was Hankson, the only other man in the room.

“No sir.”

After staring at each other for a while, Hankson stood up to show him a screen on his laptop.

“Aden Bockson, these bars that I am showing you right now are the people who pass.”

The bars to the right showing these details were abysmally low.

“And then there's the scores you have given us.”

Over at a spot that Aden thought was a blank space, there was the smallest sliver of a bar showing four other people.

“These students have been certified as geniuses, acclaimed in their fields and have had several papers they have released regarding those fields. Are you saying that your intellect is a match for them?”

Aden didn’t know what to tell them, so he stated the obvious answer.

“Maybe your test is too easy then?”

“W-What?”

This time it was from the Bittlebody lady, who appeared to be a dwarf.

“I and several of the faculty came up with those questions. There are no past or present issues with the difficulty behind the questions themselves. They are not supposed to be easy, young man.”

“Hey, you asked.”

“Enough.”

Lorelei stood up as the two other teachers seemed ready to pounce Aden.

“His answers do not match the ones in the answer sheet, but they are indeed correct. The answers check out too, so there is no reason to-”

“Enough! I refuse to believe this… ruffian is anywhere near the level of our most esteemed minds! I demand he retest!”

Aden was staring at Bittleboy and Hankson, both of whom seemed to be ready to throttle him.

…Do I really need to go to college?

The teacher Lorelei gave each of them a glare.

“Enough I said! There is no precedent to these claims and we know he couldn’t have cheated.”

“I still think he-”

The room got cold, and Aden’s eyes turned towards Lorelei.

Her eyes were shining with an eerie blue light, and her arms were covered in frost.

“Do I need to freeze your mouth shut, teacher Luke Hankson?”

Aden glanced back at the sputtering teacher, “that w-won’t be necessary headmistress.”

The icy headmistress turned towards the dwarfish Bittlebody, who shook her head.

“Good.”

Those freezing blues turned to Aden and that question he asked himself earlier was starting to scream in his head.

“Now, Aden Bockman, your scores claim to be at genius level, and I believe that you even said our test was easy, yes?”

He nodded.

“Well then, I believe it would be prudent to do our job as a learning institution by challenging your mind. You report in a week.”

She grabbed both ears of the unruly teachers, her still freezing hands causing the both of them to wince.

She wore a smile then, “do take this time to prepare. As a new initiate, you will have to move on campus. Not to worry, your textbooks and materials will be provided for free as an apology for these sorry sorts’ terrible attitudes. I hope this doesn’t color your opinion too much. This school prides itself on building young minds to better handle the new world we find ourselves in.”

As she dragged the two out of the room, Aden took stock of the madness he just witnessed.

“A week huh?”

…

Aden stepped away from the university in a bit of a daze.

One week and he would be on his own.

Apparently he was a genius.

Free books and stuff.

A super powered headmistress with a bunch of entitled pricks for teachers.

He sighed.

I’ll just head to the junkyard until my mind processes this insanity, maybe i can find some hero tech or something.

Meghan would appreciate it, and he would have to tell her about the good news.