BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM

Erik followed everyone to the edge of the gym, where he and the others took off running. Since he improved his strength, he didn't have particular problems exercising; something that professor McAllister noticed promptly.

As he observed the young man, he saw that he was also bulkier than usual, and his muscles were more defined. It was at the point where Erik's clothes started getting tight. Of course, that wasn't a natural occurrence, so the teacher decided to ask questions to the young man.

"Erik, Come here!" the teacher said.

Erik ran unenthusiastically to him, and as soon as he was close enough, professor McAllister said, "Erik, are you perhaps training at home?"

"Yes, sir, I'm using weights...Why is there a problem?"

The young man understood from his teacher's look that something was wrong, probably related to his improved strength.

Professor McAllister was suspicious; no amount of weight training would be able to make the young man's muscles grow so fast in a matter of days. There was something more at work, but he didn't know why.

"Are you telling the truth?" the teacher asked.

"Yes, sir..."

It was then that Erik thought back at his training. He concluded that he had been carelessly showing his physical capabilities. Since he got some level-ups lately, it was obvious the effects were too evident.

"All right, go back to train..."

Professor McAllister had a thought in mind; it was possible that Erik's awakening didn't end yet or something like that.

The teacher wasn't sure if similar cases did happen in the past, but this was the only logical explanation for Erik's improvement.

Even his fighting style developed a lot in a matter of days. It was a good thing, but the level Erik reached was only possible after several months of training; he was almost ready for sparring matches, which didn't make sense. He had to report this to Principal Harris.

The principal was much more knowledgeable compared to him about these matters, and maybe he did know what was happening.

Erik then went back to training. After the laps came the physical training, and then he had to practice his usual martial arts moves while the others sparred. After an hour of training, the usual notification rang inside the young man's ears.

[QUEST COMPLETE]

<Good,> the young man thought.

"I have something to do," Professor McAllister suddenly said, "Please close the gym's door and put all the equipment back in place when you leave the building."

"Yes, sir," Anderson Worthington replied eagerly. At the same time, Amber approached Erik, "Do you want to come with us? We are going to play video games in the eastern district."

Erik usually played video games at home before the system came, but only the old ones that were available on the internet and that he could play for free. He never went to an arcade, but he heard from his classmates that there were different kinds of games.

Starting from VR and ending to the classical ones, where one had to use their physical capabilities to play. Most of the games were now based on using brain crystal powers since the militaries were heavily involved in their distribution.

Some of such games were built in such a way as to indirectly train players' reflexes. Several were thought to improve their aim, some helped with their coordination, and others helped get fighting experience.

"Videogames?" Erik asked.

"Yes," Amber replied. "We are going to the mall's arcade," She smiled sweetly.

"All right, let me take a quick shower before going."

After he was done, Erik walked out of the bathroom smelling fresh. Amber, Gwen, and Floyd were in the same condition.

The young man casually walked past Amber; she smelled like flowers. The young man felt slightly aroused by her perfume. He walked beside her, intoxicating himself with the smell her hair released when they fluttered to the wind.

Erik observed Amber's red hair swaying gently with every move she made. The young man was mesmerized by the sound they made when she walked.

Many students observed the four friends walk together as they went to the car. The males were surprised and slightly jealous of Floyd and Erik. Still, they were furious because the school's trash became friends with the school goddess.

They could accept Floyd being one of her friends since he was one of the top students and also a good-looking one, but not Erik, who was average in every sense, in their opinion. His appearance wasn't bad either, but he was nothing compared to the other man.

They arrived at the mall about ten minutes later, and Amber's driver parked next to the building while they entered. The four students walked through the door and went inside the mall's long corridors, walking until they saw the sign above an entrance: IPERMALL—ARCADE.

A few other signs were placed along the hallways, including restaurant ones. They walked through the arcade's door and found themselves in a vast room full of machines.

Inside, they saw dozens of teenagers playing various types of games. It looked like a giant room filled with hundreds of consoles. A few of those were connected to the internet and were streaming movies and series. On the walls, posters of popular shows and films hung over the machines' screens.

Floyd immediately pointed to a machine near the entrance and said, "There! Let's play that first!"

Amber nodded, "Yeah! Hey, Erik, have you ever played that game?" She said while pointing at the device.

"Never…"

"Never?"

"Yeah, I don't have the money to come play games here..." Erik dejectedly said. Amber, Floyd, and Gwen looked at Erik as if he was an alien. "What is the game about?" he then asked.

"It's a game based on speed and reflexes; you have to avoid the machine hitting you and, at the same time, hit the targets you see in brown when the machine gives you the opportunity."

"Sounds interesting," Erik answered as he went toward the machine.

"Let me show you how to play," Gwen said. She then inserted a coin inside the device, and soon it started moving. The machine had several gummy fists that aimed at the player and tried to hit him or her. It was like a boxing match in which, as the difficulty increased, the speed of the machine increased.

As the machine moved faster, its punches became more powerful, so the players had to move quickly if they wanted to win. If the player got punched, he would lose points and if he was hit five times, he would be eliminated. At the end of the match, the player got a score according to the number of hits he did and the total amount of time spent alive.

Gwen showed Erik how to play, and she was good at it. She ended up with a high score compared to the ones previous players left in the machine.

After seeing how to play, Erik began to try it out, but he wasn't as good as Gwen, who was better than him physically, thanks to her training.

The four friends then went to play other games, such as racing cars, shooting, fighting, etc... During this period, Erik learned some things from his friends.

For example, Floyd knew a lot about video games and even showed Amber, Gwen, and Erik some new ones. He told Erik that there was a game where people flew around spaceships and shot aliens, called Bladehunt. Erik remembered hearing about it but never understood why anyone would want to play such a thing.

Like that, their trip to the Arcade ended. Erik felt happy since he could get a taste of what a normal life was. The others seemed equally satisfied, too, especially Floyd. When they finally returned to the parking area, Amber's driver came back for the car.

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