The hivemind is conquering for me?

Watching the others lift first was entertaining. Not because of how much or little they lifted, but what Psionics could do to a seemingly scrawny and weak frame. There was a guy in our group that looked like a strong gust of wind would knock him over, yet he managed to lift a tonne before calling it, whereas another very sturdily built man could only keep up just over two hundred kilograms.

The teleport kid only managed to do forty kilograms and Francesca could only do forty as well. The phenomenon did leave me curious. As I knew Psionics strengthened each individual body in exactly the way it needed to. But for me, my body’s strength tied is with how powerful I could get Psionically. I just couldn’t imagine being that physically weak at this point.

It was now my turn to go. Sigfried and Tamara were being tested alongside me. The helpers that were carrying the weights around got straight to the point and asked each of us. ”Starting weight?”

”Five hundred kilograms.” Sigfried declared.

”One tonne please.” I asked.

”Five tonnes!” Tamara boasted.

There was a murmur of surprise among those watching. One tonne was already a great deal of weight, the most a person got in this group was two. So for two of the three to start there and above there was shocking.

The three of us then walked into a cage-like structure. Above was a board connected to a rail. We would push the board up with our weight on it and keep it up for ten seconds between each weight addition. This guaranteed everyone safety in case they dropped the weight.

With the weights placed, we began. The first tonne was easy, I was able to lift over two tonnes before my current body enhancement. I was just starting off easily and working my way up gradually. I wanted to feel how my muscles felt each increment and work on ways to empower the muscles to perform better at similar tasks in the future. In summary, I was focusing more on my form rather than the actual max weight.

After ten seconds I placed the board back down and limbered up as the new plates were put on. The process repeated multiple times without much fuss. However, when I got up to five tonne’s I started feeling the challenge.

Still, keeping up the five for ten seconds was still doable, meanwhile to my left, ”Gah! Still can’t get past one and a half tonnes. Sigfried stated before walking over to Francesca. He leaned towards her ear and whispered. ”What’s the score on them?”

”Apollo just finished five and Tamara is on ten.” Francesca said simply. ”Really?” Sigfried asked not expecting Apollo to reach that high. The man was tall, sure he had that on his side, but he was still rather skinny compared to most people around his height and strength.

Of course he knew there were exceptions, Tammy being six foot and able to lift a lightweight tank’s worth of weight without breaking a sweat for example, but Apollo had excelled in everything today, he expected at least one weak area.

”Oh my!” Francesca suddenly declared and Sigfried followed her gaze back to Apollo. ”Oh my.” He couldn’t help but also say himself. It now made a bit more sense. The clothes the man was wearing were deceptive. They hid his frame, but after taking his shirt off, calling that man ’shredded’ was underexaggerating.

The man’s muscles were brimming with energy. Every minute movement he made, his muscles moved with so much power.

A playful whistle emerged from one of the guys in the group and followed up with. ”Talk about a sleeper build! What the actual fuck? Eat some calories my guy!”

Sigfried couldn’t help but agree. He might have been cut himself, but that guy looked like his body was moulded to perfection.

...

’Why is everyone staring at me? I just didn’t want my shirt to rip?’ I couldn’t help thinking. Sure I was in shape, but so was almost everyone else here? And I had no idea what that guy meant by eating calories? I eat enough for dozens daily.

I pushed everything out of my mind though and focused up on the next set of plates. As I pushed up against them, the extra tonne was deadly. My whole body was shifted into maximum overdrive, as I forced the weight upwards. However, I held for ten seconds then dropped the weight instantly after I was done.

”Phew! Fuck me...” I muttered to myself as I wiped some sweat from my forehead. ’I need to stop relying so much on Gyrokinesis that’s for sure... I’m getting lazy.’ My muscles were throbbing, but I felt I could continue so I signalled to the helpers to add another tonne.

Looking to my left, Tamara appeared to be in a similar position to me and looked equally tired, though she was lifting more than I was and that genuinely impressed me. The woman in question must have felt my gaze again and looked at me before looking away with a disgusted expression.

I just shrugged it off and got back to it. Seven tonnes. I limbered myself up and shook away the pain. I placed my hand in the ready position and pushed up. The moment I felt the weight, I began breathing loudly. My body pushed itself to the limit and then further, tapping into my energy stores.

When the ten seconds was up, I could barely believe it and dropped to my knees and began inhaling air, sweet, sweet air. A helper walked over with a bottle of water that I graciously took. I gulped a few times before pouring the rest over my body, I couldn’t use my Thermokinesis during this to cool myself down so I felt very hot.

Sigfried heard an audible gulp to his right as he watched on, but he ignored it.

I thought I was done after seven, but apparently I was a masochist and my body signalled for another plate. ’Though it does make sense... Fighting with Valerica excites you and after being penetrated by Nerissa, you want more fights with her? Hmmm... Am I actually one? I hope not.’

My thoughts distracted me long enough for autopilot to kick in as I made my way towards the weights again. I was still lost in my thoughts as I raised my hand against the weight plate and immediately I began a rageful scream.

’Fucking idiot!’ I couldn’t help calling myself at the pain I was feeling, but the anger was working in my favour as expelling it outwards had given me the strength needed to push through the horrible never ending ten seconds.

After the ten seconds were up I collapsed to the ground and declared. ”I’m done.” I immediately activated my Thermokinesis to help soothe the heat in my muscles and cool my body down and activated my Gyrokinesis to use as little effort to stand up and join the others.

Tamara was still going and continued to go for a few more plates. She hit fifteen tonnes, which was over two elephants in weight before declaring she was done. There was a round of applause as that was crazy levels of strength.

Her friend Francesca asked one of the helpers a question to help validate her friend’s achievement. ”Excuse me? Do you keep track of the highest lift for this test?” It was then a voice boomed from behind her.

”We do.” Turning around, it was the instructor, Edward. ”The maximum lifted for a first timer on this test was thirty tonnes, but he wasn’t a first year. The record for a first year was actually broken today.”

Tamara’s eyes flared up in excitement, as Edward continued. ”Yes, it was a woman in the previous group. Orchid Lambdason. She lifted twenty from the start and then refused to participate further.” The excitement died down in Tamara’s eyes. She got her hopes up for nothing. She wanted to go and try twenty right now, but she knew she wasn’t there yet...

”Now, you all should not be comparing against one another like I said at the start. All your feats are incredible and are only going to improve as you grow. Now, you can go and perform the other tests on your own. Each machine you see laid out targets a specific body part. We want conclusive reports on how your body functions after all. Now disperse.”

I walked away from the group to go and find Mindy and Lena. I needed to distract myself from the hunger I was currently feeling. Using so much Psionics followed by extreme exercise ’Orchid might get a double special today, I need top quality nutrients to recover. She also deserves a reward for not going overboard with her feat of strength and keeping a low profile like the good love-bug she was.’

...

Orchid was engaged in a spar again with Valerica. They had fought a few times, but Valerica was taking it easy today for some reason so Orchid went with the flow and slowed herself down as well. That was until she had a wonderful chill go up her spine. She knew Apollo thought about her at that moment, something she clearly would like and it distracted her. A leg sweep and she was on the floor.

Orchid didn’t even growl upon losing. She had a good feeling right now and felt the urge to begin developing a nutritious meal for her Apollo... She had a hunch.