Crash Course by Teacher Victoria

I realized that the hexagon tile I was standing on was slowly glowing blue and electricity was crackling on it. This tile... it was starting to surge with a huge amount of electricity!

"Shit!" I loudly cursed as I searched around me for a way out of this glowing hexagon tile. The only way out... was back the way I came! I quickly turned my body around and dashed toward the path I had come from. As I had expected, my body was still acting sluggish, especially when near these lightning steel rods.

It was just in the nick of time, as the barrier between the two steel rods was about to form. I exerted more willpower into my legs and then... I jumped forward. My body flew midair as I lunged toward another hexagon tile. I could see the lightning barrier starting to materialize and feel the tingling sensation coming back to me.

Finally... my body passed through the barrier just in time as it fully erected once more. I landed with a heavy thud on the hexagon tile. I was breathing hard and my heart was beating equally fast. I looked back at the hexagon tile I had stood on before. It was glowing brightly and then... a surge of electricity erupted from the tile, creating a thick surface of wild electricity. Its crackling was a grim reminder that I could have been fried if I hadn't gotten off that tile.

This was the 'pressure plate' that the mad scientist woman had just warned me about. That hexagon tile had a pressure plate that would detect if I stayed on it too long and would trigger a surge of electricity, punishing anyone who took their leisure time on it. If this was true, even the hexagon tile I was on now could also trigger a surge of electricity if I stayed too long.

I gritted my teeth in frustration. So not only were my body and suit acting strange because of this Lightning Grid field, but the hexagon tiles were also lightning traps for anyone who dared to stay on them too long. Then I heard the sound of a familiar drone getting closer and laughter from someone even more familiar.

I looked up at the source of these sounds and found the flying drone with a display screen of the mad scientist Victoria "Mad Star" laughing at me.

"Good job on surviving, Grunt No. 703," she congratulated me with a smirk. I had been trying to hold back my anger, but this woman was really pushing my limits. "You managed to move your body and suit even in this heavy electromagnetic field! Impressive!" She continued giving me praise. I had a conflicted feeling from her praise though because she had just been laughing at my expense.

"Electromagnetic field?!" I shouted back toward the drone in confusion, repeating the words she had just mentioned. I had heard this term at least once, but I didn't really remember what it was. It was something I had learned about in high school physics class and it had something to do with electricity, the very thing surrounding me right now.

"That's right, Grunt No. 703," Victoria confirmed with a mischievous smile. "Let me give you a short lecture about electromagnetic fields!" she exclaimed with excitement. She then suddenly ducked down from wherever she had been, her video feed briefly disappearing.

A few seconds later, she reappeared on the display screen, but this time she had donned square-rimmed glasses and styled her flowing blonde hair into a neat bun. It was the "true" scientist appearance she had once shown me in her dimly lit laboratory, where I had been submerged inside one of the many testing tubes inside said laboratory.

Victoria playfully adjusted her glasses, and for some reason, not only did her glasses suddenly fog up and hide her eyes, but they also glinted!

"Listen up, Grunt No. 703. An electromagnetic field, or EMF for short, is created by moving electric charges, like the ones in these lightning rods. It's an invisible field of electric and magnetic energy that affects everything within its reach, including you and your suit," she explained with a wise tone.

"Huh...?" I could only mutter in confusion. I got the gist of this 'electromagnetic field' or EMF or whatever, but why was it affecting me and especially my dark material suit?

Seemingly able to sense my confusion, she showed a mischievous smile again and... her glasses glinted again. "You see, Grunt No. 703, EMFs have many adverse effects on your body. A small amount would be manageable by even a normal human, but extreme amounts? It would affect not just the tissue of your body, but even the cells and DNA," she continued, revealing more horrifying effects of these EMFs.

"What?!" I muttered in shock at her lecture. She was basically saying that even if I didn't get electrocuted, the EMFs from these lightning steel rods were more than enough to kill me slowly.

Seeing my horrified expression, Victoria instead showed her mischievous smile again, as if she was enjoying my suffering. She then slightly lifted her glasses, and they again created another glint. "Don't worry, Grunt No. 703. All of you grunts have been altered and enhanced with our help! These EMFs are still manageable by your new grunt body and you will survive," she added to her explanation, "Hopefully..." she secretly added at the end.

"Wait, what?!" I heard what she had added at the end. I was glad she mentioned that my new grunt body could survive this EMF thing, but she just had to add that last bit as if she wasn't sure herself.

"Now, now, you only have to trust us scientists from Max Brain's Empire," Victoria tried to assure me, but it wasn't very convincing coming from her. She continued anyway, "In fact, you grunts not only have new, stronger bodies, but you also have one of Lord Max Brain's authentic creations on you, the Grunt Battle Suit!" she exclaimed with excitement, revealing the name of this dark material skin-tight suit that I was wearing right now.

"Grunt Battle Suit...?" I repeated her words. I looked down at the suit I was wearing with mixed feelings. So, this suit was designed by Max Brain himself, huh? It was the suit that me and the other fellow grunts had been wearing all this time, especially when we were submerged in that testing tube inside her laboratory. It felt... durable, but also thin as I could still feel the sensation of my skin through it, hence the tight-fitting nature of these suits on all of us grunts (especially for the female grunts).

Suddenly, the hexagon tile beneath me started glowing as well. "Shit..." I cursed again, realizing that this hexagon tile was also charging up an electric surge. I knew there would be a lightning trap triggered by a pressure plate on these hexagon tiles, but where should I go from here? Should I go forward or backward? I quickly scanned my surroundings to check the timing of the lightning barriers. I still hadn't figured out the pattern of these barriers, especially with my body turning sluggish because of the EMFs caused by the electric current of these lightning steel rods.

The tile underneath me was glowing even brighter, and small electric crackles were starting to appear on it. The lightning trap was about to activate. 'Damnit... guess there is no way around this for now,' I cursed to myself. I then forced my sluggish body to move once again. The destination? Unfortunately, I had to go back toward the starting position. I turned around and dashed with all my might, timing the downtime of the lightning barriers... and luckily managed to pass through just when it was down.

I briefly walked outside of the Lightning Grid's danger zone. I was breathing hard yet again after forcing my body to move with sheer willpower. I sat down on the warm steel platform, trying to catch my breath. I looked at the drone flying comfortably in the air, with a display of the grinning mad scientist woman on it.

"H-hey!" I called out to the drone hovering in the sky while I was slowly catching my breath, "What the heck is this thing made of? Kevlar?" I shot a question toward the displayed Victoria while pointing at my chest, indicating, of course, the dark skin-tight suit that I was wearing.

I assumed it was made of Kevlar because I had heard about how it was supposed to be a strong but light material used to make bulletproof vests. But... this one didn't weigh anything on me and again was hugging my body quite tightly, unlike the bulky-looking Kevlar. Also, this mysterious material had a weird reaction to electric current, apparently.

Victoria, on the other hand, had a smirk on her face. "Heh, I'm glad that you asked, Grunt No. 703." She lifted her glasses once again, and yet again, a glint appeared from them.

"Nanobots."