The campus was alive with tension as the mid-year examination week arrived.
Flyers rustled against tree trunks, last-minute group discussions filled the courtyards, and the hum of laptops charging in the library created a constant white noise across the university grounds.
Jackson Bill walked calmly through it all, his old laptop slung over one shoulder, eyes sharp and steady.
His stat panel hovered faintly before him:
> [Jackson Bill - Evolution Status]
Level: 1
Progress: 58%
Attributes:
Intelligence: 300%
Reflex: 115%
Strength: 100%
Stamina: 102%
Learning Speed: 500%
Combat Instinct: Basic
Every day since the system's activation, Jackson had been spending hours refining his understanding of advanced coding structures, encryption algorithms, and self-defense footwork in the privacy of his small room. Each morning, his body felt lighter, his mind clearer, as if every breath he took brought him closer to something greater.
---
In Professor Mason's Systems Programming class, the examination hall was filled with over a hundred students seated in tight rows. Each table held a university-provided laptop, cold metal against Jackson's fingertips as he waited for the server to push the test modules.
Professor Mason stood at the front, arms folded, his stern eyes sweeping across the room. His gaze paused on Jackson for a moment before continuing.
"Remember," Mason said, "this examination is not about who types the fastest, but who understands systems deeply enough to create clean, functional solutions under pressure."
Jackson inhaled, centering himself.
Beside him, Salena Gate adjusted her dark blue blazer, her posture upright, eyes locked on the screen. Her calm aura contrasted sharply with the nervous energy in the room.
Jackson glanced at her. Their eyes met briefly, and for the first time, she gave a small nod.
A silent acknowledgment.
---
The exam began.
Task 1: Debug a memory leak in a critical system kernel module.
Jackson's fingers moved without hesitation, pulling up the module, analyzing the call stack, spotting the faulty pointer logic in seconds. He rewrote the segment, optimized memory allocation, and sealed the leak without disrupting the module's core functions.
Task 2: Build a lightweight encryption algorithm for secure communication under bandwidth constraints.
Jackson's mind flooded with structures and formulas as if he'd been designing encryption cores for years. He drafted a hybrid stream-cipher and block-cipher system with adaptive key generation, coding it in clean, efficient lines, while the room around him felt frozen in time.
---
His peripheral vision caught Salena's screen, and to his shock, she was nearly keeping pace. Her fingers flew, her code structured differently, elegant and mathematical. She glanced sideways at him, eyes narrowing for a second, a subtle smirk forming before she returned to her screen.
---
At the back of the hall, Alex sat with a scowl, fingers stumbling across his keyboard. His cronies exchanged nervous glances, watching Jackson and Salena's calm, relentless progress.
Alex clenched his jaw, his pride bruised seeing Jackson—a "nobody" from a middle-class family—moving like a machine.
---
Task 3: Identify and patch vulnerabilities in a simulated hospital management system.
Jackson's mind snapped into focus. His system-enhanced perception allowed him to see the hidden holes, unsecured endpoints, and sloppy SQL injections embedded in the system for testing. His antivirus program principles came into play, allowing him to patch vulnerabilities efficiently.
Salena was only a few steps behind, her methods systematic, checking each vulnerability methodically before patching. Jackson, however, moved with intuition, guided by his system's enhanced logic flow.
---
After three hours, the final task submitted, Jackson leaned back, taking a deep breath.
> [Progress: 58% → 60%]
His evolution bar ticked forward, a sign that his rapid-fire mental activity was refining his neural processing pathways.
He looked over, catching Salena's gaze once more. She raised an eyebrow.
"You're fast," she said quietly, her voice calm.
Jackson blinked, then offered a small smile. "So are you."
Her lips curved upward slightly, the first genuine smile he had seen from her since the semester began.
---
After the exam, Jackson stepped out into the breezy courtyard, stretching as the weight of the intense session lifted.
John Deere jogged over, panting, holding two iced teas. "How was it, bro? You looked like a robot in there."
Jackson chuckled softly. "It was… fun."
John blinked. "Only you would call an exam fun."
---
Across the courtyard, Salena stood under the shade, her phone pressed to her ear. She glanced at Jackson again before walking away, her steps measured.
Jackson could feel it in the air—a rivalry forming, but not one of hate. A rivalry of growth, challenge, and unspoken respect.
---
That evening, Jackson returned to his room, plugging in his battered laptop to refine his antivirus program and begin designing a new system vulnerability scanner for small businesses. His fingers moved swiftly, the world outside disappearing as he fell into the rhythm of creation.
Every bug he found and patched, every line of clean code he wrote, made his mind feel sharper, the progress bar inching upward: 60% → 61% → 62%…
---
As midnight approached, Jackson stood and moved into a corner of his room, practicing the self-defense drills that now felt as natural as breathing.
Breath in. Step. Parry. Counter.
His movements became smoother each day, his reflexes tested by tossing a rubber ball against the wall while catching it with his other hand without looking, training his peripheral awareness.
> [Reflex: 120%]
[Combat Instinct: Basic → Stable]
Jackson checked the panel, feeling a rush of quiet satisfaction.
---
After a quick shower, he returned to his desk, checking his forum inbox. A message blinked:
> "Your antivirus patch saved us from a ransomware breach. Thank you. Payment sent."
Jackson opened his hidden savings account, the numbers slowly rising.
He was close. Soon, he could buy that top-tier laptop—not for vanity, but to build larger-scale programs that could help more people, software that could protect schools, hospitals, and small businesses from cyber threats they could not see.
---
He closed his eyes, leaning back.
The Ultimate Creation System was not a gift to waste. It was a responsibility.
And he would use it to build.
---
Across the city, Salena sat in her study, her laptop open to a simulation environment, her fingers replaying sections of code from the exam in her mind.
Her thoughts drifted to Jackson, his calm eyes, and the precise way he typed, faster than even her.
"Jackson Bill…" she murmured, a small smile touching her lips.
---
The week passed, and results were posted.
Jackson stood before the board, eyes scanning.
1st: Salena Gate – 100%
2nd: Jackson Bill – 100% (tie, lower submission time by 0.4 seconds)
Gasps echoed around the hallway.
"Who is Jackson Bill?" some whispered.
"How did he tie with Salena Gate?!"
---
Jackson blinked, a quiet laugh slipping out. He had tied with the university's genius, and by system-enhanced speed, had submitted his final patch a split second faster.
A notification popped in his vision:
> [Progress: 62% → 65%]
---
At that moment, Salena appeared beside him, scanning the board. She turned, her sharp eyes locking onto his.
"So, it's you."
Jackson smiled faintly. "Looks like it."
She extended her hand. "Don't slow down, Jackson Bill."
Jackson took it firmly. "I won't."
---
And so, in the bustling university hallway, among the whispers and stunned faces, a rivalry was born—a rivalry of creation, growth, and quiet respect, marking the true start of Jackson Bill's journey toward becoming the Ultimate Creator the world would one day know.
---
[End of Chapter 2]