The test went on and on but he didn’t manage to break a single one, ‘At this rate I won’t be able to get her tuition. Well that’s alright, the main reason we came here today was to check if I am superhuman or not. I can make money other ways.’

He completed the obstacle course and now he was doing a course to test his senses.

“Tell me what you smell.”

“Chicken, steak, nothing, nothing, nothing, rose, lavender, nothing, chicken again, nothing, nothing, nothing.”

“Okay, your sense of smell isn’t very sharp. Why don’t we move on to the eye test next?”

“Okay, tell me what you can see.”

“There’s nothing there?”

“Try and focus, focus hard.”

“Hmm, still nothing.”

“Okay, bad sense of sight also average. Right, you failed the entire sense test.”

Buck coughed and frowned.

“Well according to the statistics you are not a super human but just a really impressive normal human.”

Sigh…”Well, I guess that’s it then. How come we never did a blood test to see if I’m super human? Wouldn’t that have saved time?”

Buck nodded and replied, “If we had facilities like that we could but our scientist went down with the ship and the UCA won’t provide that service either. So we have to resort to these means, but it wasn’t a waste of time right kid? You did make $20,000.”

“That’s true.” A wide smile spread on his face, “Okay, let’s get back to work. What are you buying for me today grand pa?”

“Who are you calling grand pa huh? And didn’t you just win 4000 meal tickets? Shouldn’t you be shouting me heh.”

“But it’s my birthday tomorrow.” Lucif put on a set of puppy dog eyes as he looked at the old man.

“Well that’s tomorrow, buy your own lunch today.”

“Tsk, stingy old man.”

That afternoon in the cafeteria everyone congratulated him on breaking records. “Well done kid, I never knew a normal human could do such things. I’m impressed.”

He used this new found fame as an opportunity to promote his martial arts dojo. He stood up on a table and yelled out at the top of his lungs which immediately caught everyone’s attention.

“As you know I broke 2 records today, the speed kicking record and the punching speed record. This wasn’t due to my superhuman speed or anything along those lines but rather. It was thanks to my martial arts. I know a lot of you won’t know what that is so I’m going to give you a demonstration. Buck, would you like to join me on stage.”

“Stage? You’re standing on a table.”

“Can you just get over here please, and punch me.”

“You want me to punch you? If I punched you, your body would explode into a pool of blood.”

“Hah, are you scared old man?”

“Scared? Heh, I’ll show you.” Buck leaped forward with a quick jump as he moved towards Lucif. He stretched out his arm and launched a punch. He held back nearly all of his power but even a light tap would be enough to send Lucif flying. He was going to teach him a little lesson about respect.

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But what he thought would happen didn’t happen. One moment he was punching, the next he was watching the world spin as he fell flat on his back.

“What happened?” The crowd gasped. Buck might not have seen it but the other workers had a front row seat. Lucifs arm redirected the powerful blow of the old man and used his own strength against him to send him flying.

“Amazing, this is martial arts? General Arlo was beaten by a kid. This could’ve changed the direction of the war 13 years ago. Dammit kid, why didn’t you teach us this before? Who told you to be born so late in time?” The workers pretended to be angry but inside they were excited. They couldn’t change the past but once they pay off their family’s bounty and get them released they will be able to protect them from whatever comes their way in the future. They might have to spend another 40 years in this mine to gather the funds, but it was a sacrifice they were willing to make.

“I will be teaching those who are willing to learn, but it won’t be free. It’ll be $10 a lesson.”

This instantly silenced the rowdy crowd, “Is that all? Haha, I wouldn’t mind paying $50 a lesson. What time do the lessons start and where do we meet?”

When he heard this he almost grabbed his heart and threw it at them, ‘Damn, I was even prepared to barter the price down to $1 a lesson if you didn’t accept. I sold myself short!’

Lucif straightened his shirt, cleared his throat and put on the expression of a business man.

“Ahm, I will be holding lessons in the grand hall every day at noon.”

He quickly left the hall and went back to work, he wasn’t sure how many workers would turn up but he was hoping more than 30 would show. $10 x 30 people was a whopping $300 extra a day, as long as they enjoyed his teachings and learnt a lot from his lessons they would go away happy. Little did he know, what sort of conversations were going down in the food hall.

“Hehe, after we get some lessons from that kid we will be able to face the General and rub dirt in his face. The once tyrannical Generals will have to listen to us from now on.” 

Lucif smashed through the rocks as he mined his heart out, his muscles were still undergoing refinement and he continued to grow stronger. His endurance was many times stronger than it once was and his skill with a pickaxe and shovel had grown to new heights.

$14.53

$16.98

$12.13

The money in his account continued to soar, it wouldn’t be long now before he had enough for tuition. He wasn’t sure his pay for this month but he was hoping it would be quite high. He could check his balance but he wanted to leave it as a surprise.

Like always he picked up his sister and walked home, on the way they stopped off to pick up Ambrosia, the newest addition to their little family.