Driving Theory Test!
(A/N: Stat increases will be shown every 2 or 3 chapters from now on.)
The weekend came and went by in a flash, it was mostly spent with his friends. Dan also spent a little bit of time taking down his Freelance service page, he was now doing an apprenticeship. He no longer had the bucket-loads of free time that he once had. Sure, he would have the evenings after the gym to himself, but he'd decided that aside from social life, he'd also work on the mock driving theory test, which was an app on his phone. Dan's score would increase very quickly too.
He went to Angela's gym at 5 PM on Saturday and Sunday, each time slightly increasing the difficulty of the workout. Otherwise, Dan knew that he'd just receive diminishing returns over time. He'd noticed that the initial workout that the bio-scanner had given him was the Level 0 version, which made him wonder how many levels there were. Apparently there were 100, 0 being his most basic workout, and 100 being something that Captain America would probably struggle to do.
It could be increased by increments of 0.1, so he started with 0.2 on Saturday, and when that felt a little too easy, he switched it up to 0.4 on Sunday. Dan quickly realised that he couldn't switch it up every day at that point, since that only really worked when he had a Evolution Speed Boost active. At his regular 8x adaption and evolution speed, he'd increase the level every 2 days instead. His routine was as follows:
Workout Routine (Level 0.4):
11 Minutes of Cardio warm-up.
Leg Press Machine:
74 kg
3 sets of 10 reps with 30 seconds rest between sets
Dumbbell Bench Press:
3 sets of 10 reps with 6 kg dumbbells
30 seconds rest between sets
Dumbbell Rows:
3 sets of 10 reps with 6 kg dumbbells
30 seconds rest between sets
Leg Extensions Machine:
3 sets of 10 reps with 22 kg
30 seconds rest between sets
Bicep Curls:
3 sets of 10 reps with 6 kg dumbbells
30 seconds rest between sets
Tricep Extensions:
3 sets of 10 reps with 6 kg dumbbells
30 seconds rest between sets
The format seemed to change when displaying the levels on their own. After his session on Sunday was over, Angela called him over. "Dan, you can take your Driving Theory test tomorrow morning, we'll have everything ready for you to do at my office. I trust that you've prepared for it of course."
Dan nodded, relieved. "Yes, I think that I'm more than prepared, I downloaded an app that simulated a mock version of the test. I've improved my score drastically, I'll definitely be getting full marks."
Angela grinned at his response, "I knew you'd be ready in no time. That adaption speed is something else, I told Vicky that you'd already been preparing for it for a long time. She's all for you having your own license, I'm sure you had your own circumstances for not being able to do it earlier."
Dan confirmed this once again by nodding. As soon as he was back at his apartment, he let Andrei and the others know that he was doing some last minute preparation for his Theory Driving test the next day. They all wished him luck, and he brought out his phone once he was alone in his bedroom. He'd already increased his score from a horrible 13/40 to an amazing 37/40. He'd use this time to get it to 40/40, which he did in barely an hour.
There weren't any skills for theory tests it seemed, he'd probably gain his active and passive skills after he started learning how to actually drive. Dan was as prepared as he could possibly be for now, he then committed the test results to memory. Dan went to bed at 10 PM, his body block had quickly adapted so that he'd wake up almost precisely 9 hours later. There was no longer any need for the alarm on his phone, and he got up at 7, and got prepared as usual.
One he arrived at work, he greeted Luke and Jessica as he entered the building, they gave him a funny look as he passed them. Everyone with powers is probably going to notice the changes, yep they're all staring at me. He entered the main newsroom, noticing that Alejandro was there, who waved him over. "Dan! It's nice to see you again, Angela has told me how well you're doing! Peter, please take Dan here to Angela's office for his Driving Theory test!"
Dan quickly looked behind him, and spotted the young mutant guard behind him. I didn't even see him there! "Hello again!"
"Hey Dan, come with me, I'll take you to Angela's office now."
Dan followed Peter down the corridor away from the News Reporting Room. There were a few doors with names on them along the way. They stopped outside one with the label:
Angela Del Toro
Senior News Reporter
Peter knocked on the door which was followed by a "come in!"
They both entered, and they saw Angela sitting behind a sparsely decorated desk, a man who appeared to be in his early 40s was also there. "I've brought Dan Montgomery for his Driving Theory test, Angela."
"Thank you, Peter, come on in Dan!"
Peter walked back down the corridor and Dan entered the office, all feelings of nervousness quickly dying down. The man approached him and held out his hand, which Dan took, shaking it. "Hello Mr. Dan, my name is Tristan, I will be your Test Proctor for today. Please take a seat, we will begin immediately!"
Dan quickly walked to the desk and sat in the chair opposite Angela. She quickly stood up, "I'll be leaving you in the care of Tristan, good luck Dan!"
Angela exited her office, quietly closing the door behind her. Tristan smiled at Dan, "ready? Good!"
He took several pieces of paper with multiple choice questions, he then placed them along with a black, ballpoint pen on the desk in front of Dan. "Normally, you would be taking this test along with many other candidates, but these are special circumstances. Please place any electronic devices in this tray here, and make sure that they are both turned off."
Dan quickly took out both his phone and laptop, Tristan's eyes widening for a moment once he saw them. The laptop was already turned off, and Dan quickly turned the phone off too, before placing them in the tray. Tristan began recording then with the device he carried with him.
"Welcome to the New York Driving Test Centre. I'm Tristan, your exam proctor for today, Mr. Dan Montgomery. Your candidate number is C-645873. Please ensure all electronic devices are turned off. Let's begin your journey towards becoming a safe driver, Mr. Montgomery. You have 1 hour, starting from now, Good luck."
Dan immediately began to answer the questions, he made sure to take his time with each question. There was a good chance that some of the questions would be different, or worded in a different way. So he made sure to read every question properly before ticking the appropriate answer box. It seemed that they were all the same questions, but they were worded differently, and sometimes asked for written answers to support his answer.
He was done before he knew it, and once Tristan confirmed that he'd completed the test, he gave Dan a smile. "You seem very confident young man, most people are very jittery when they take this test."
Dan returned the smile, "I've had a good while to practice the mock theory test on my phone."
Tristan nodded in approval before his curiosity got the best of him, "if I'm not mistaken, those are the latest models made by Stark Industries! Are all employees here provided with them?"
"Yes, the rumours are true, The Front Line receives a lot of funding from Stark Industries and The Future Foundation."
"Most interesting indeed, I would love to continue this conversation, but unfortunately, I have to return to the official test centre for another batch of candidates. I wish you the best of luck with your results, you will receive Via Post within a few days! Goodbye Mr. Montgomery."
"Bye, it was nice meeting you!"
Tristan waved his hand in assent behind him and he left the office. A few minutes later, Angela returned to the office. "Hey Dan, how did it go? Sorry for being so abrupt earlier, I was just going along with the proceedings."
Dan waved off her concerns, "don't worry about it, and the test went great!"
Angela breathed a sigh of relief, "that's great! Now that you're done with your test, it's time to start for today, I was thinking about having you practice with writing some mock articles for today. Don't worry, I'll guide you through the process of each one."
"That sounds great, I can't wait to get started!"
The two of them walked back to the News Reporting Room together, Dan thought over how his test had gone on the way there. That was much easier than it was the last time, I was a lot calmer too, that's for sure, I'll definitely be passing the test, I'm pretty confident of that. Once they arrived in the room, Angela took him to the desk situated at the back again. It was going to be another busy day, but Dan was once again looking forward to it.