The room started to shake heavily, the walls began to deform and objects showed up from the ground. Calvin was confused, unlike Reis who was holding a remote control pointing to the sky and smiling like a madman with so much confidence. After a while, the earthquake stopped. When Calvin opened his eyes, he was shocked. The room changed completely, it looked like a science lab. Gadgets were everywhere, and armors were kept in huge tubes. A big screen was hanging on the main wall, and a wide table was positioned in the center of the room. Calvin was amazed.
"Pretty impressive? ha!" Reis bragged confidently.
"Yeah..." Calvin responded while walking and contemplating the room.
"You can choose any armor and any gadgets you want, they are all free provided by us. Choose wisely!" Reis suggested.
Calvin traveled the room looking at the armors one by one, some were cool, some were weird. But their description and specific characteristics weren't useful according to Calvin, he wanted one that can make him stronger and inhumanely powerful. He wanted to catch up to others. He searched until his eyes settled on one in the corner, it wasn't exactly an armor, it looked like a dress, a dark one with metallic features. It wasn't exactly eye-catching. What was interesting about it is its specifications, unlike the others, it wasn't focused on defense, it had speed boost, jump boost, and enhanced flexibility to maximize agility efficiency, and reflex. Calvin stopped at it and analyzed it. Reis noticed him, so he approached him.
"Oh, that one is defective. Anyone who used it previously got injured heavily." Reis explained.
"What's wrong with it?" Calvin asked while touching his chin and thinking.
"It's too hard to handle, the user should have gracious movements like water, if the user goes too fast, it will put a toll on its body when stopping suddenly. The user must be very athletic and have inhuman reflex, which can be found in a Chi user, but it's not designed for them anyway as they don't need it to become more powerful. They have another type of sets but that is another topic." Reis elaborated.
Calvin thought that in order to catch up to Chin-Hae, Ilyes and others. He needed a strong gear, not a regular one. One that could make up for his lack of physical force, so he thought combining his martial arts with this gear could make him outstanding.
"You wouldn't unless I try it," Calvin said confidently.
"But you will hurt! Wait... I could use you as a test subject- I mean as a reference to improve it. *Ahem*! Ok, I'll approve. But I don't think you will be able to do it today as your arm is still recovering. How about the day after tomorrow?" Reis suggested.
"Yes, sounds good." Calvin approved.
Calvin went then to the weapon and gadget section, he began to look for a weapon that suits his style. There were guns, rifles, pistols, flamethrowers, bows, swords, lances, gloves...
Until his eyes settled on two particular pistols. One was dark blue, the other was dark red. They looked like a Taurus PT92 with a much larger and longer slide.
"What about this pair?" He asked Reis.
"Oh, they are useless, to be honest with you, they are great firearms but they are too heavy. Moreover, even if you succeeded to pick them up, each one with a hand, the recoil from firing one bullet can dislocate your arm. Firing two bullets can break your arms' bones!" Reis explained.
Calvin was determined to see how heavy they were, he reached for the blue one. Everybody was sure that Calvin wouldn't possibly be able to pick it up, Calvin was injured in his arm so even if he wanted to do it with two hands, he couldn't possibly do it. All of a sudden, the gun was in Calvin's hand.
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Reis surprised.
"I guess I can." Calvin was really happy internally but he wanted to act cool.
"I mean, only Chi users can do it!" Reis surprised.
Reis thought that at first that Calvin lied about himself being not able to feel Chi, but he quickly rejected that as the infamous doctor himself declared that Calvin is nowhere better than a cripple. The only thing that Reis wanted to know is what sort of hellish training did Calvin gone throw to gain this enormous amount of strength.
"Ok, then I'll test these pair the day after tomorrow, I think I'll go outside a bit to breathe some air," Calvin asked to leave.
"No- No problem," Reis replied.
As Calvin exited the room, Reis smiled a bit and looked at his assistant.
"Looks like we got ourselves a star this year!" he said confidently.
Shortly after, Calvin arrived at a garden near the huge tower. He sat on a bench and sighed. He looked at the trees, the wind going throw their leaves. He remembered at that moment his master, Kamo.
--Flashback--
Calvin and Kamo were sitting in the canteen, eating. Kamo looked at Calvin who was clearly exhausted from the work.
"You seem to be tired." Kamo ironically.
"You don't say, I think the only moment I enjoy is eating and sleeping," Calvin responded depressed.
"Ok, to lift the mood up, I'll tell you a story," Kamo suggested.
"I'm listening," Calvin replied.
"During a robbery in New York City, the thief shouted to the employees inside the bank: "Do not move! the money belongs to the government! But your life belongs only to you!" Everyone lied on the ground calmly. 1
When the thieves finished stealing, the younger thief who holds a university degree said to the leader of the thieves, who happens to be the oldest of them and just a graduate of elementary school: "Hey boss, let's count how much money we took." The leader rebuked him and said to him: "You are stupid ?! This is a large amount of money and it takes us a long time to count. Tonight, we will know from the news bulletins how much money we stole!" 2
After the thieves left the bank, the bank manager told the branch manager: "Call the police quickly!" But the branch manager told him: "Wait, let's take 10 million dollars and keep it for ourselves and add it to the 70 million dollars that we previously embezzled." 3
The bank manager said: "So it would be cool if there was a robbery every month..." 4
The next day, news agencies reported that 100 million dollars had been stolen from the bank. The thieves counted the money again and again, and every time they found that the amount was only 20 million dollars. They got very angry and said: "We risked our lives for 20 million dollars and the bank manager got 80 million dollars without dirtying his clothes." 5
The bank manager was smiling and happy that he had become a millionaire, and all his losses on the stock exchange were covered by this robbery. 6" Kamo narrated.
"So, what did you understand from it?" Kamo asked.
"*Hmmmmmmmmmmmm* That thieves were used by the bank owner," Calvin responded.
"Well, yes. But there are more than that. The first idea is called the concept of manipulating thoughts, the thief made them choose between the money and their lives by stating which one is important to them. The second idea is called experience, these days, experience is more important than paper qualifications. The third idea is called swimming with the tide, the branch manager turned the situation in his favor. The fourth idea is called prolongation, the bank manager wanted the situation to happen again, he might even think about how to produce it again. The fifth idea is called knowledge is worth as much as gold, it's literally the idea, they turned their simple thinking into quick money. And finally, the sixth idea is called seizing the opportunity, it might happen or might not, but the important is they took advantage of the situation." Kamo elaborated.
"Interesting, I didn't think it was a profound as you explained," Calvin admitted.
"The real criminals are often in the highest positions, but they are criminals with diplomas," Kamo explained.
"That's deep.." Calvin replied.
"Anyway, we finished eating. Time to Work!" Kamo said enthusiastically.
"Not agaaaaaaaaaaaaainnnnn!" Calvin depressed.
--Flashback end--