Neural : 4

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          Ned tapped his pen impatiently on his table for 4 straight minutes as Prof. Lewin wrote out the exact same math equation that spanned the entire board. A quick look around the class revealed that the others were either asleep, absorbed into their screens or staring into space. Ned stealthily snuck a peek to his left and noticed Katie jotting down what was being written on the board. At least she was taking this seriously as well.

          "Give it your best shot," said Prof. Lewin as he threw the marker onto the table.

          Ned grit his teeth and stared intensely at the board, determined to prove to everyone that he could shut them all up with his prowess. But from time to time, he would find himself shifting his eyes to the side. He noticed that Katie was not making any progress with the equation as well, as much as he had loved the fact that she was so close to him, there was no way he could not be distracted.

          "FOCUS!" he grimaced and concluded this was not going to work. He had to do things a different way, he needed to enter the NZone. When his eyes opened, he was in a dark room with the giant screen in front of him. 

However, for the first time, the screen did not show a series of scattered images, but a live feed of the scene in front of him. He shook his head from side to side and the screen moved accordingly as if in virtual reality. He raised his hands and two hands came into the frame just as he did. It was disorientating but it was a pleasant surprise to discover that the nausea was gone. What is going on? Is this an... upgrade? 

          Excited to find out what more he could do, he shifted the screen to the board and things appeared and felt different. The symbols on the board started to form connections with one another. Ned watched as formulas he had never seen, but could apparently make use of hover around the screen until it found its place. Where the numbers fit perfectly. The sense of euphoria from understanding such a complex problem overwhelmed him as he quickly scribbled the imagery down.

          He looked up at the board again and the formulas disappeared. His head started to ache and he exited the NZone. Looking down at his work, he had only 'solved'  the first line out of the 11 on the board. But no one could tell whether it made sense or was plain gibberish, it was scribbles that Ned himself could not understand through his usual eyes and not the NZone screen. He looked towards Katie for some recognition but all he saw was her puzzled look. Not directed at him, but the messy formulas scribbled onto her paper - eerily resemblant to those Ned had just seen in the NZone.

          "Alright, that seems to be enough time for everyone, pass up your papers and let's move on to the next exercise." Prof. Lewin said with a smirk.

          Ned chugged down half a bottle of water and stretched his arms over his head before setting them on the table, fingers wriggling above the pieces on the chessboard. After blankly staring at the pieces for a while and getting increasingly frustrated he resolved, "This isn't working... Wait, why am I trying to solve this like everyone else?  Bunch of losers. I need to do this my way. I bet people would kill to have what I can do." 

          Back to the NZone.

          The live feed was still on the screen. Focusing on what he wanted to accomplish, the situation started to work itself out. A seamless simulation of the movement of each piece played out on the screen. Without breaking a sweat, in 28 swift moves, a stalemate was achieved.

          Ned slumped back in his chair and shut his eyes, oblivious to the fact that the entire class had gathered around him to witness the magnificent performance. He struggled to glimpse through his heavy eyelids and saw the wide-open jaws of all the faces within his vision and passed out. His rage was out, adrenalin had run dry and Katie too, quietly drifted away from his mind as he banged his head on the chessboard.

          The school bell rang and Ned lifted his head off his arms. He found himself sitting at the back of the class, while the others yawned through the last few seconds of the white screen video.

          "That's it! Thank you all for your participation, it has greatly aided me in my research, and I will be eternally grateful. As a token of my appreciation, I think you'll be glad to find out that in fact, there will be no reshuffling of classes and you will all have your afternoons free after today! But Katie Leyland, Charles Cannon, and Ned Lee, could you see me after this?"

          The class scurried out of the room and Ned slumped his body to the front, noticing that Katie also seemed to be in discomfort through his blurred eyes. But before he could approach her, Charles slot his oversized body between them and helped her up.

          All Prof. Lewin revealed was for them to have a good rest over the rest of the week, and that there would be real training waiting for them the week after...




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