Later that afternoon, our trainer, Mr. Warnick, went over the basic mechanics of hand-to-hand fighting in our Phys Ed Class.

“Even though you just started high school, it's crucial that you learn basic moves and techniques for hand-to-hand combat. You never know what your future holds for you. Some of you will end up in the military, and some of you, the ones with more developed Tgenes, will probably end up working with professional strike teams,” he says with a steadfast tone.

“Alpha Prime Candidates are rare and far and few between, but you never know. One of you might surprise me,” he says while glancing at the class before finally settling on Brandon.

Alpha Prime candidates were something like national heroes. They were Tgene Alphas who displayed a very advanced level of skills, something I would say is in the 40+% range in genes. Only a few have appeared over the last 100 years. You could count them on one hand.

It has been twenty years since the last one appeared, but Lord Ethian garnered enough attention and accolades over the previous year, so talk about making him an Alpha Prime is heating up.

We might soon see our first Alpha Prime here in over 20 years.

“Alright, everybody, let's partner up for some one-on-one drills,” says the trainer.

I’m looking around to try and spot an unsuspecting soul, but as soon as I spot my target, I feel a hand grab me by the shoulder.

“Where do you think you’re going, hot stuff?” says Cora with a devilish grin.

Hmm, I’m not liking this. I play dumb and try to shake her hand away, but she has a vise-like grip on my shoulder that no amount of shaking can pry her loose.

“Cora, I was just about to go over there with Theo as he wanted to be my partner,” I say, trying to escape this situation.

“Yeah, sure you were,” she says sarcastically.

“He hasn’t even looked at you since we started talking. Where you lying to me, Khyrum?” she says with a raised eyebrow.

“Why does it feel like I’m been interrogated for killing someone?” I think while trying to figure out a way to get away.

To make matters worse, I’m not close to this girl, so why is she always in my face? I mean literally in my face, like inches apart.

“Cora, you got it wrong. I didn’t lie to you; I wanted to partner up with Theo, you see,” I say while taking a step back.

Our trainer, Mr. Warnick, starts the exercise at that very moment.

“Alright, everyone. The time is up to choose your partner. Let’s begin. Anyone left without a partner will need to run 20 km for the next 45 minutes,” he smirks.

“Well, that's too bad, Khyrum, because the class has started. Unless you want to go run, you are stuck with me,” she says with a smile.

I lower my head and sigh.

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“Ok, just don’t complain if you get hurt,” I mumble.

“What did you say!” she says, eyes as big as saucers.

“I couldn’t hear you clearly; it sounded like you said you might hurt me?”

“Is this true?” she says with both eyebrows raised this time.

Damm, it feels like the temperature dropped 10 degrees just by her stare.

“I hurt you, never,” I say calmly.

“Good, it seems you are not an idiot after all,”

“Let's begin,” she says.

The following 45 minutes were spent with me trying to avoid Cora's punches and headlocks as she was genuinely trying to hurt me. She wanted to show me she was as strong, if not stronger than me, so she chased me like a dog chasing its tail.

After 45 minutes, our trainer finally blew the whistle.

“Sprrrreee, Alright everyone that is it for today. Tomorrow, we will work on physical conditioning. We will alternate between hand-to-hand training and physical conditioning for the next month or so,” he finished saying.

“What do you say, Khyrum?” “You want to team up with me for the training,” says Cora as she turns my way.

But I was already on the other side of the training ground trying to catch up with Mr. Warnick, so I did not hear a word she said.

“This bastard already left..how infuriating,” says Cora as she stomps her feet.

“Mr. Warnich, sir, do you have a moment?” I say as I catch up to the trainer.

Mr. Warnick was not a very tall man, about 5’9”. He had a muscular physic, and his black cropped hair matched his square face nicely. His flat nose complemented his beady eyes and bushy eyebrows.

“Sure, son, what can I do for you,” he says.

“I don’t know how to word this without sounding pretentious, so I’ll just say it,” I told Mr. Warnick.

“During a conversation with Mrs. Ranya, my homeroom teacher, she mentioned that you might possess some physically enhancing Tgene skills. I wanted to ask if it was possible to see a demonstration and maybe a piece of the gene sequence?” I say, trying to sound sincere.

“Hmm, may I ask why this request? You are not awakened yet, so skills don’t come into play for you just yet. What will you gain from watching my skill?” he says in a more serious tone.

“I’ll be honest with you, Mr. Warnick. I’m trying to make the first-year strike team on my first shot. I need motivation to get my physical strength up to par, as I know skills still don’t come into play for us. So, if I can see what a physically enhanced body looks like, it will give me a goal to shoot for,” I say.

“Really? The strike team, huh? The tryouts are in two weeks, you know. I’m not sure that seeing the body enhancement will do anything for you in two weeks,” he says while eyeing me.

“I work of visual stimulation, so I can make a mental goal if I can see it. Although it might not go a long way in two weeks, at least it will give me a set goal to shoot for,” I say confidently.

“Damm, that’s what I like to hear out of our youth,” he says with a glint of excitement in his eyes.

“My skill is only third tier at best, so don’t expect too much from it,” he says.

With that, he stands still for a moment; the next instant, the veins in his arms, neck, and forehead start to bulge. His skin also seems to be letting out what looks like steam or heat.

“This is called Enhanced Body, a technique I acquired from the Thurmis Consortium,” he says while picking up a 100kg weighted ball with just one hand.

I’m intrigued as I watch him toss the ball like it was made of paper.

“In addition to what I have already achieved physically, this skill enhances my strength, agility, and dexterity by an extra 15%. This gives me an extra advantage when fighting someone or something on par with me.”

“But like I said, this skill is third tier, so it only lasts about 5 minutes. If it was second or first, I believe the strength would be on par with an Alpha Prime, probably lasting 1 hour or more. Too bad I’m not privileged enough to get my hands on one of those skills,” he sighs.

“If I could acquire this skill, it would prove vital to me,” I think.

“What do you think, trainee Khyrum? Is this something that you can set your goals to?”

“Yes, sir. I do think so, Mr. Warnick,” I say with a smile.

“Would it be possible to look at the DNA sequence? Only a part of it will be fine. I like to compare sequences. It's part of my hobby,” I say, trying to sound as truthful as possible.

Mr. Warnick looks at me momentarily, unsure of what he is thinking.

“Sure, kid, there is no harm in you looking at it. It's not like you can use it right now or something,” he says laughingly.