Chapter 41 Expectations

Lee Seng groaned in frustration. HIs ears lowered onto his head. He thought he wouldn't see Manny or Sara for a while longer. He knew they both went to the school he was trying to get into and he knew if he got in, he would be in the same class. He knew all of this, but not an ounce of him could prepare him for what just happened.

'How's your body?' Keng asked.

"They're getting better.' Lee Seng replied. He lifted his head up and stretched his arms.

'So, about what happened earlier...'

'About Sara? There really isn't anything to talk about.'

'No, not Sara. When I took over your body.' Keng sighed. Lee Seng lingered on Sara for awhile. His brain slowly reversed back to the moment Keng was talking about and he slowly nodded.

'Oh, that.' Lee Seng remembered the feeling of being pushed out. He appeared in the abyss and right in front of the lake. 'Why did I appear at the lake? Is that a gateway?'

'There's... more ways than the lake, but the lake is the easiest method.' Keng tilted his head. 'Wait, that's not the point! If anything bad is going to happen to you and you can't control it, I can use the white aura to protect you. It's something you should know and learn to use.'

'How do I even activate it?'

'Do you remember the last couple of times it happened to you? What did you feel?'

'What did I feel?' Lee Seng pondered. He glanced up at the ceiling. He could hear a bell ringing. He could hear people shuffling out of their classes in the distance as he bit his lip. 'I felt angry for sure. Angry that I was going to lose. Maybe I was desperate to win. Desperate to... live.' Lee Seng shook his head.

"There's no way that could be the answer." Lee Seng whispered. "Why do I want to live? To become an adventurer? To stay as far away from my dad? If I wanted to do that, I could have done a lot of things to ensure that I stayed away from dad..."

"Hey, exam taker, it's time to go back!"

Lee Seng's ears shot up as he looked up. A random exam taker had made her way over to tell him. He smiled and thanked her. She turned back and ran back towards the gym. Lee Seng started his way over, wondering what triggered the white aura.

---

In a room above Gymnasium E. Icarus and Vanessa sat around a large round table with three other individuals. Alex Evans, Number 3, sat at the head of the table. He glanced at the three other members and sighed. He tapped the desk and an image popped up of Lee Seng.

"What do you think of the Creator's son? Do you think he has what it takes to survive at the Academy?" Number 3 asked. A brunette woman sat next to Number 3 and wore business attire. On her cheek, she had the roman number one. The brunette woman sighed and motioned for Icarus and Vanessa to answer.

"I expected more from the Creator's son. He seems lacking in his power." Icarus answered.

"His fight with Callas seemed quite promising to me," a woman spoke. She had short red curly hair. Her eyes were violet and she wore a flower dress. "I think he will fit right in. If we support the Creator's son, our school rating will go up even more. We will become the most sought out school in the region!"

"Evermore is right. Chang will do well here. Even if he's a little bit on the newer side to things, he has great potential." John Stewart added. He wore khakis and a button up. His hands were scarred. He glanced around the room and everyone nodded. "It's not like we can't deny him entry anyways. The Creator has already spoken, so we must do our best to train Chang to be the best."

"Please be reminded that we are watching out for Protocol XI. The Creator is wary of XI." Number 1 spoke.

"Wary how, Director?" Gladys asked. Number 1 tapped the table and the floating image of Lee Seng disappeared and was replaced with a replica of a similar scanning device used on Lee Seng.

"The Protocol Receiver did something it shouldn't be able to do," Number 1 pointed. "I know you are all aware of the Receiver. It either turns green or red after sending an electroshock into the body system. The shock is quite harmless to the body's individual parts. It stings, but its purpose is to only ping the Protocol. What ended up happening is, it pinged it but didn't get a signal that it was alive nor dead. It was in between."

"An in-between state never happens." Number 3 added. "I watched my wife do the test onto Chang and it turned yellow."

"The Creator revealed that yellow only occurs if something is working against the Protocol." Number 1 glanced at everyone. Gladys and John's eyes darkened. Vanessa and Icarus simply nodded.

"Is Chang working against the Protocol then?" Vanessa asked. All eyes turned to her and she ignored them. She kept her gaze on Number 1 who leaned backwards and folded her hands into each other. She shrugged.

"We aren't sure what's happening. As you are all aware, Chang never produced enough Dark Matter to fuel his power. He was powerless in a powered society. The only thing that worked for him was the Biohuman serum's superhuman boost. Chang is quite intelligent, strong, fast, et. cetera. Even without powers, he held his own against powered individuals plenty of times before." Number 1 explained. "It was only recently that he suddenly produced an abnormally large amount of Dark Matter and on top of it all, a new type of Matter appeared in the form of a tail according to Number 9's Dark Matter sensory.

"We don't know what the white Matter means but Number 5, Dr. Valentin, theorizes it's a new type of Dark Matter. He calls it White Matter."

"Has Chang ever used the White Matter?" John asked.

"Not that we knew prior to the demonstration fight." Number 3 answered. Alex shifted in his seat and turned to look at the gym beneath them. His tattoo of the roman numeral 3 appeared on his bicep. Alex sighed and nodded at everyone. "Let's observe the rest of the exam and see what will happen."

---

Lee Seng filtered into the gym, shuffling along the large crowd. He decided he would go into the other corner near the farther exit. He leaned on the wall and watched as the room slowly filled with people. People were talking and joking around.

"Yeah, dude I'm telling you, it's crazy." Two guys decided to stand near Lee Seng and chat. Lee Seng sighed and tried his best to ignore it. The first guy was closest to Lee Seng while his 'buddy' stood to his left. He glanced over and nudged his friend.

"Hey, isn't that the dude?" Guy 2 whispered. Guy 1 turned to quickly glance and nodded.

"Yeah, that is him. I wonder why they picked him out of everyone."

"It's because he's already in. He's the Creator's son. He could wedge his way--"

Guy 1 elbowed him in the stomach and hushed Guy 2.

"Don't say it so loud." Guy 1 hissed. "You don't want him hearing, do you?"

'I can hear you two, anyways.' Lee Seng rolled his eyes. Lee Seng turned to look at the two guys and Guy 2 made eye contact. Lee Seng stared at him and watched him quickly pull his friend away and move.

"Dude, he's looking at us!" Guy 2 hissed. "Let's go stand over there."

"Huh, I thought you wanted to pick a fight. You scared?"

"Shut up! He seems scarier when he's staring with those eyes."

The two moved away and Lee Seng shifted his weight on his feet and yawned. He pulled his phone out and unlocked it. He scrolled while he waited. People filled the room and many people seemed to give Lee Seng a lot of space.

"Welcome back, everyone. Hope the break gave you enough strength. We're going to be starting our actual third event now." Manny said. "Some of you might be wondering if you'll get the opportunity to show your skills in a fight. Your welcome because that's what you'll be doing today!" The crowd cheered excitedly.

"Finally! The best event is here!"

"I'm going to do my best!"

"Alright, alright. Calm down everyone." Sara chuckled. She was back to being bubbly and Lee Seng found himself shaking his head. He didn't understand how people could pull these sort of things, but who was he to judge. "The third event will put your skills to the test. How well can you traverse a new area with no information?"

"Welcome to the Tall Forest." Elizabeth motioned and the wall behind them projected a video of a huge forest. The shots showed different areas of the forest. "You'll be transported to the third event, aptly named, 'Tall Forest'. You will be dropped in randomly all across the huge forest and have to secure as many points as possible!"