Alexia

“Granddaughter, you will fully take on the duties your role assigns to you as soon as you ascend, but until then you still have one job to complete,” the Quantum Ruler declares, focusing solely on me while seemingly ignoring everyone else in the room. “After you reach Tier 4, you must enter the quantum realm and search for your core. After you find it, you will immediately gain your true form.”

“When you say true form…” I begin, only for him to cut me off. “A quantum being’s true form is dependent on what their role is and is completely different for every quantum being. There are also several rules in place for the use of a quantum being’s true form enforced by the universe itself depending on how high the quantum being is on the hierarchy.”

Being a quantum being sounds a lot more complicated than I thought it was.

“As a Quantum Reaper, you are outside of the hierarchy and therefore do not need to take orders from any other quantum being, myself included,” the Ruler continues, still acting like there’s no one else in the room. “You also have very few restrictions on the use of your true form that, at the end of the day, come down to using it only for the pursuit of your role and for your own self-defense. What is considered self-defense, however, is debatable.”

“What if I consider someone to have attacked me even if they didn’t directly attack me?” I ask while tilting my head slightly.

“Then it will depend on the circumstances,” the Ruler answers, his eyes never leaving my own. “It will all be up to the universe itself, and you will be able to tell the moment you’re allowed to use your true form to fight others.”

“How will I be able to tell?” I ask with a frown. “Some sort of System Message?”

He shakes his head and glances at his son – which is still odd to call him considering his current appearance – before saying, “The System was this child’s creation. It does not belong to the universe” He turns back to me as his son lowers his head slightly. “You will know instinctively when you’re allowed to take on your true form and use it against others.”

Hmm. Okay.

“Does that mean she’s allowed to use her true form without a reason as long as she doesn’t use it to attack others?” the Hound asks with a frown.

Silence fills the room for several seconds before we all realize that the Ruler is plain ignoring him. He isn’t even so much as looking at the Hound, just staring at me as if waiting for me to ask my next question.

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Guess he really doesn’t see non-quantum beings as anything other than insignificant beings.

Which the Hound clearly doesn’t care much for, considering the anger I see in his eyes. But by now he seems to have realized just how pointless attacking him would be, so he just stands there, boiling over with rage.

“Does that mean I can use my true form without a reason so long as I don’t attack others while in it?” I ask, repeating the Hound’s question.

This time the Ruler answers right away, “You can. But if the universe determines that you attacked someone, it will punish you.”

“And what would that punishment entail?” I ask, briefly glancing to the side where I find Astrid having finally fully fallen asleep. So I gently move her, lying her down on the bed instead of on my shoulder.

“The punishment varies depending on the infraction, but the universe rarely ever kills a quantum being,” the Ruler says, bringing my attention back to him again. “The most common punishments include pain, a decrease in power, and imprisonment for a few thousand years.”

Silence fills the room for a second at that last one.

Guess quantum beings don’t age. Most System users end up getting extra life span every time they level up, but to be able to sit imprisoned for thousands of years means the quantum beings don’t.

Then again, it could just a be a really long lifespan like the other Class S species have.

The Quantum Ruler scoffs at my thoughts and says, “Don’t compare us to those mortals.” But he doesn’t explain any further, making me realize that he and his son at least share one incredibly annoying trait.

They never fully explain everything.

“I will return to bring you to the quantum realm as soon as you reach Tier 4, so hurry it up and advance,” the Ruler says, seemingly finishing things up.

My eyes narrow as I really don’t like being told what to do by others. But at the same time, it wasn’t like I was gonna stop leveling or anything.

One way or another, the Quantum Ruler-

“Grandfather,” he says out of nowhere, cutting off my thoughts.

My eyes narrow even further.

The Quantum Ruler-

“Grandfather,” he insists, seemingly confusing everyone else here who can’t hear my thoughts.

We stare at each other for several more seconds before repeating the process twice more.

Eventually I just glare at him amidst the others confusion before smirking.

The self-proclaimed Grandfather is not what I was expecting when he first arrived.

This time his eyes narrow, following which a staring match begins. Only to be ended when cracks begin to form in reality around the Quantum Ruler, who just lets out a sigh and mutters, “Guess that satisfies the universe.” Which confuses me since it makes him seem like a different person from how he’s acted so far. Then he grows more serious and says, “My time here has run out. I will be leaving you now.” He turns to his son and adds, “Try to behave while you’re recovering. We can’t have the universe throwing a fit because the Quantum Architect truly died.”

And without another word, the Quantum Ruler vanishes in a glitchy purple flash of light.

Then silence fills the room, broken only by the warping sound of the Quantum Architect rushing back into his bat form.

That was… certainly something.