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Miss Watson leant forward in her seat. “…And that’s the last thing you remember before waking up here?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“Can you tell me how you’re feeling now? Have you noticed anything strange or unusual?” It looked like she was pretending to be calm, but I could see the vein in her head throbbing.
“Nothing much really,” I said, at which she seemed sceptical.
“Really…? Nothing else?”
“Oh, there is one thing…” For a split second, I saw fear flash through her eyes, and sweat started to bead on my forehead in response. I looked up at my status bar and it was clear she couldn’t see it.
“Yeah actually…” My dad always taught me to tell the truth, and you’d never be in trouble. Though, I don’t know why but this time felt wrong.
“I can see my Final Tales Reborn interface, as if I was still playing the game… I’m sure its just been burnt into my vision or something…”
“Interesting…” She scribbled furiously on the clipboard. “Please, wait here for one second,” she said, quickly stepping back into the hall with phone in hand. Aftera few minutes, she walked back in. “Okay, well I think we have what we need for the preliminary assessment. If it’s okay with you, we would like to follow up.” She could see the apprehension on my face. “Just to make sure everything is okay,” she said reassuringly.
“Umm, yeah sure. Right, can I go now?”
“Of course.” She opened the door and a security guard walked in. “George here will escort you back to your group. I believe Mr Astor himself will be making an appearance.”
Wait, back to the group? Oh gods, the group I fainted in front of? They’re all probably laughing! I felt around my head again, but all that was there was my scruffy hair. Shit, more importantly. “Umm, do you have my Nova 9000?” I asked as I followed George into the hallway, and noticed something very peculiar in my peripheral vision…
Matthew looked up from down the hall. He carefully closed the ajar door he was standing at and put a finger to his lips before casually walking off in the other direction.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, because you kept the device going…” Miss Watson replied, pulling my attention back, “…even after you were asked to switch off all electronic devices, it was damaged. We are now looking at it to determine whether there’s any risk that the remains of the device could cause you further harm, but we can emphatically say that you definitely won’t be playing games with it anymore.”
The security guard took me to a large conference room, and everyone was there.
The whole class went dead quiet, and then the snickering started.
“Oh-my-god, I can’t believe Cho’King fainted.”
“Pathetic.” Another said from the crowd, snickering.
“Does he have anaemia or something?”
Mr Harding raised his voice over the class. “That’s enough, everyone!” He then made his way over. “Mark, are you okay? At least the colour has come back to your face. I was told your father would be meeting you back at the school after the excursion. Are you alright to re-join the class for now, or would you like to rest in the waiting area?”
Everyone was looking at me, and my face was burning up. “No, no, I’m fine.”
“Okay, great,” he said as he patronisingly patted me on the shoulder, then nodded to the professor.
“Thank you, Mr Harding. Now, would anyone like to have a go at explaining what the experiment demonstrated?”
Blake, the large kid with the broad shoulders spoke without raising his hand. “That Mark’s a girl!” At which, him and his goons started laughing and pointing at me.
Kill me now.
“That’s enough. That’s enough! Blake, Daniel, Brett, lunch detention for the rest of the week!” Mr Harding snapped
“Yeah whatever, sir!”
“Anyone, with a real answer?” the professor sighed out, before leaning back against the wall.
“I… I… how is this possible?” Matthew exclaimed, looking towards the professor who was smugly smiling with his arms folded leaning against the wall.
The professor gleamed a smile at him like a puma who had caught the breakfast they were fighting over. “What are your thoughts? Use your words.”
Matthew knew he was being ensnared in a trap and could only glare in response not willing to take the risk.
“Would anybody else like to try?”
Catherine raised her hand up.
The most beautiful girl to have ever graced the earth, Catherine was perfect in every way: her platinum blonde hair, her delicate tanned complexion, her perfect portions. Every time I looked at her, a million butterflies would explode inside of me. If we were together, everything would make sense. I’d quit gaming, study hard, and do everything right, for her I’d do anything.
“Yes, you.”
“The tables were switched?”
“That’s what visually appears to have happened, well done on that astute observation, but no. Anyone else?”
Maybe it’s nanomachines.
Richard, the resident geek, tried his luck next. “They sent information to the pile of nanomachines and programmed them to form into a new camera?”
Damn, I knew it was nanomachines! Stupid Richard stealing ideas out of my head!
“Good theory but incorrect, and the evidence is there. Think about it logically: why would camera A turn to dust, and dust B turn into a camera? Nanomachines doesn’t make sense.”
Hah! I knew it wasn’t nanomachines! It’s got to be what Matthew was talking about, quantum entanglement or something.
“Some of you may have thought this was basic quantum entanglement?” he was clearly smug with himself, and he clearly had beef with Matthew.
Urgh… I’m bored of this… Gods! The guys, I totally forgot about them. Damn, I need to get home soon!
“Mark! Pay attention!”
“Ahh, sorry, sir!”
“This is what Professor Rheiner was talking about in her paper…” Matthew said.
The professor looked shocked. Why would that startle him?
“Ah-har.” A man stood in the door way, his head awkwardly close to the top of the door frame. He was gangly looking but seemed pretty well dressed. Who-the is this?
Matthew leaned in, sensing my confusion no doubt, and whispered, “That’s Astor, the richest man on the planet. Just look at his designer suit and watch. You could buy a sports car for the same price.”
“Ahh, Mr Astor, what a surprise!” the professor beemed.
“That paper, har, is completely unfounded. Written by sceptics and god-fearing bigots, har.” Mr Astor’s head and shoulders twitched strangely as he finished his sentence. “We are creating the future here! Soon, har, we won’t have to worry about whispers of solar flares, or har, climate disaster, or, har, world ending comets! We’ll be able to instantly traverse the stars and galaxies and claim new planets and resources! The entire universe will be open to us!”
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“But… Rheiner says that this could cause a chain reaction of molecular disassociation. The whole universe could turn to dust.” Matthew shot back.
“They just ran the test, did they not? Do you see anything wrong? Has anything collapsed or broken down?”
Matthew thought for a moment before responding: “The camera that was on the left turned to dust?!”
“That’s part of the experiment.” The response deadpan and flat.
“What about the leather satchel that appeared when Mark fainted? Was that part of the experiment?”
“You tell me, you’re supposed to be the smartest kids in the state…” Mr Astor said, tapping his finger, avoiding the question.
Wait, what satchel?
Matthew stroked his chin. “Theoretically… quantum transportation works by transporting the information of an object to a designated location, then coordinate and program the recreation of said object but in the new destination, but… the amount of information required to do that would be astronomical. No, that’s not what is happening here.” It looked like Matthew had picked up on the guy’s smiling eyes and must have thought he was on the right track. “No, what I think is happening is what Rheiner alluded to, you’ve tapped into the Absconphoton energy wave…”
“But Absconphoton is undetectable. What makes you think it is being utilised now?”
The battle of the brains had begun, as Richard decided he wasn’t done trying to sound smarter than Matthew. “…Because, based on the research articles Mr Harding provided to us, by telegraphing Absconphoton to a new location, it is theorised that it loses its hold over its original position?”
“Close," Mr Astor said. "But, har, it is also theorised that the energy is being absorbed by the recipient of the signal.”
"But wouldn't sending any type of mass through this energy source result in a collapse?" Matthew questioned.
"No, har." The man seemed eager to explain himself. "This is where our theory differs from other scientists' theories. There are many people out there who believe that if you send an object through time or space powered via absconphoton you lose your grip on it and it disappears or becomes distorted and changed, har. That's why they're saying the universe will implode, or explode, or disintegrate when they use the technology we've created, but what they don't know is, what an absconphoton really is."
"Isn't it just unclaimed energy?" Matthew asked.
"Yes." Mr Astor nodded emphatically. "And, no. It is not. Absconphoton isn't a thing; it's more of an event. A connection between spaces."
"Connection?" Matthew asked.
“Yes…”
Matthew wanted more, it was obvious; he was missing something. “But… that’s the very aspect that Rheiner emphasises in her paper, theorising that it will cause a chain effect of molecular disassociation or entanglement.”
“No! No! No!” Mr Astor yelled. “You know that crazy whack-job thinks after we activate this, we’ll somehow, har, cease to exist, har. It’s crazy! Or-or-or, somehow, our consciousness will shatter and be disperse among infinity realities. Har, even worse is her final theory.”
“I didn’t read any mention of that.” Matthew furrowed his brow.
“Were you even really reading it?! Har, it’s all in the subtext!”
“They said you fainted. You look fine.” Dad said from the driver’s seat.
“Huh?”
“Your teacher Mr Harding mentioned there was an accident?”
“It’s nothing, I’m fine.” Gods! I don’t want to talk about it!
His eyes seemed to look into my mind through the rear-view mirror. “You know I worry about you and your brother all the time. Try not to worry this old man too much, okay?”
“Umm, yeah, sorry Dad.” Lucky you’re not the father of some of the other kids at school, You’d have lost the rest of your hair by now.
“Are you still going to help your mother in the restaurant? Am I taking you there now, or are you going to bail on her again?” His voice was even and steady, but with hint of disappointment.
Great, emotional manipulation. I mean, I just fainted for Christ’s sake… “Yes, of course I’m helping Mum out.”
“Thanks for the lift, Dad.”
“That’s quite alright. I’ll see you on the weekend. We can go for a bike ride.”
That’s all you ever want to do, that and create compendiums of information or whatever it is you do at night. Gods, I wish I could go back to… but I can’t. “Sounds great.”
Dad drove off in his SUV, leaving me to mum’s antics. The restaurant she was working at this time was a Thai one, which was partly why I agreed to help out—to learn a little more about the other half of my heritage finally—but now she was kind of over cooking, I think, and was studying to work in childcare of all things. I tried to make my way in through the front, but it was unfortunately still locked, and no one was in front of house, so round the back it was, past the garbage hopper, holding my nose. Ahh, Tom Yum must have been the special last night.
“Ohhh, little boy, what happen? I not feed you enough?” She would have given me a sloppy kiss on the forehead if I hadn’t thankfully outgrown her, so she just settled for a hug, which I still tried to squirm free of, while Lim and Tommy, the kitchen hand and sous chef chuckled.
“I’m fine, Mum… but I lost my VR headset...” I could feel the judgement pouring out of her and sought solace in the cold hard tiles below.
“Ooooh-mmmmy-ghod, silly boy! Your grandma send me money, and I use money to buy you that, and you lost it?!” She sighed and shook her head, which only ever happened if she was super disappointed. “You want work in kitchen for rest of your life? Haiyaa… Go start fish.”
“What?! Nooo… come on, not the smelly fish…”
The fish that Mum had ordered for the restaurant were whole fish, not even descaled.
“Mother effer…”
I rolled the back of my blade along the fish like a tractor farming wheat.
Next time I am definitely calling in sick…Now, the big cleaver is perfect for chopping fish heads off, but I could also continue using the chef’s knife, then that way I have less to clean later on, ‘cause let’s face it I’ll probably end up cleaning up unless by some miracle the dish-pig shows up. Okay, whatever, the chef’s knife will do…
I didn’t get the satisfaction of a good ‘ol cleaver chop when I brought down the chef’s knife and separated the fish’s head from its body, but I did get one of those weird notifications again.
You have attempted to use [Butcher] on [Snapper remains]. You are unskilled
Shut up, brain. You are not crazy. You are not seeing anything! Okay, why was I using a chef’s knife? Because it makes it easier to transition to filleting and cutting up steaks. I continued hacking at the fish. Then it happened again…
You have successfully created… [Fish Steak] x10.
Would you like to add [Filleting] to your [Techniques]?
What the fuck is going on here?!
You do not have the required skill to [memorise] that [Technique].
“Mark, what’chu doing? Work-work-work!”
“Ahh, yeah Mum, sorry…”
Service was starting, and the orders were coming in. Anna, from front of house, called the first order out. “Two tom yum soup, mild, and ped phad yaang.” She looked up from the docket. “Oh. Hi Mark,” she said, smiling. Her silky black hair was tied back in a bun with a chopstick like thing, she was wearing black service uniform, it was tight on her.
My cheeks flushed, and I could only mumble some incoherent greeting back. “Oh, ah, yah, h-hi.” Before she ran back out for more orders, giggling behind her hand.
Lim was already covering a couple of orders, so Mum turned to me. “Marky you make, okay? It easy, just like home.”
Normally, I would just help with prep and cleaning, but I guess Mum was truly worried about my future, and I felt bad for losing the Nova 9000, even though it wasn’t my fault at all. “Yes, Mum,” I said, which elicited a few giggles from Lim and Tommy. “I mean, Chef.”
I grabbed two premade clay pots of soup and placed them on high heat, then went and grabbed a couple of ladles of duck curry in a small pot. Once they were all heated up, I added in the pre-prepared ingredients and cooked them a little longer. Probably all in all took less than seven minutes. Just as I thought the meals were ready to serve, a strange but familiar ethereal window popped up in my vision.
You have successfully created… [Red Duck Curry] x1.
Your skill in [Cooking] has increased by 7.
Still, no one seemed to see the notification but me. So, I had a status bar like I was still in FTR, which I thankfully hidden, and also getting notifications. What the hell is going on?! I’m losing it! 7 points in one go, yep… clearly lost it. The messages continued.
Would you like to add [Red Duck Curry] to your [Recipes]?
“Mark?! You going to overcook prawn” Mum screamed out as she whisked the two tom yum soups off the stove and placed them on some wooden trays.
Hmm, I wonder why I didn’t get any notifications for the tom yum soups?
“Hello Mark? Baa-rain gone walk-about?”
“Ahh, sorry, Mum.” I said scratching my head, trying to avoid acknowledging the two snickering buttheads.
Anna came back into the kitchen and before she took the service, she said, “Order. Two muping, two tod man plaa, one massaman curry!” She added a few bowls of rice to her tray, then raced off.
“Okay khaa, Mark you make, or you want wash dish for rest of life?” Mum said, which elicited more laughter from the staff, including the new dishpig that had thankfully just arrived.
“Mum! I got this, okay?”
You have successfully created… [Pork Skewer] x1.
Your skill in [Cooking] has increased by 0.5.
Each time a finished a dish, a notification appeared, telling me I had successfully created the dish and that my cooking skill increased.
Haha! This is freakin awesome! But… what does it all mean? It’s not like I’m physically getting better at cooking or anything.
Each new meal I cooked revived the exclamation mark in my vision with another big flash. They were system messages piling up in my notification log, and it was clear some of them needed a response. Upon selecting the exclamation icon, the Notification Screen opened. There was an exclamation icon flashing next to each dish name. Though unsure of what it actually did, I added them to my [Recipes].
More orders were coming in every minute and everyone became very busy that night. I got skill gains from cooking meat sewers, any of the curries, fish cakes, quail, chicken wings, and laksa, but none of the other traditional Thai dishes like pad thai.
“Good job tonight Mark.” Mum said as she turned the indicator on and turned down the next street. “I never seen you work so hard. Take a $120 from my purse, you earn it.”
Mum almost never praises me for anything… The weird notifications were really motivating, albeit alarming too. “Thanks mum.” I said as I pulled at the money.
“Don’t waste money on junk food, okay kha?”
“Umm, yeah, okay.”
“Mark, Khun Ya money gave you that Nova game special…”
“It’s actually a portable console mum, packed into a virtual reality headset.”
“Yes. Khun Ya gave that to you, special, and now you lost it. Save money and invest in future, don’t upset Khun Ya.” There was a little tear in the corner of her eye as she spoke.
Normally, I would think she was manipulating me with crocodile tears, but I could tell in her body language and tone that she wasn’t putting it on. “Yes mum, I promise.”
“Okay kha. See you later arrigator.”
“Yeah, yeah, see you on Sunday.”
“Hey Dad, I’m back.” I called out from the front of the apartment as I kicked my shoes off, releasing the stench of my socks, but I heard no reply and that was because Dad had his headphone on. I could still hear Rachmaninov blaring away. Night, Dad …
I added my smelly-ass work clothes and steamy socks to the wasteland that was my floor and jumped into bed, half naked. Everytime I focused, a health and mana bar appeared. Well… I like to think I’m a red-pill kind of a guy, so let’s see how crazy I am.
When I brought my finger to the space in my sight where the menu button for FTR would ordinarily have been, it appeared in my vision.
A menu list opened when I pressed it.
The menu identifier [Status] was what I was immediately interested in, and I opened the submenu [Character].
Mark Thornwell, Male Human Commoner
Level: 1
Health Points
Mana Points
10/10
STR
DEX
VIT
INT
MND
CHA
(+0)
(+0)
(+2)
(+2)
(+0)
(+0)
Craft Skills: Cooking +22.3, Alchemy 0, Bonecraft 0, Tailoring 0, Leathercraft 0, Smithing 0, Woodworking 0
Gather Skills: Digging 0, Excavation 0, Fishing 0, Gardening 0, Harvesting 0, Logging 0, Mining 0
Total Experience: 0
Current Experience: 0/200
I just can’t even brain right now… There were more menus, very similar to FTR, and even submenus like [Recipes] that was under [Cooking]. All the recipes I quote-unquote learnt tonight were listed and even included their difficulty number, which was strange because that didn’t seem to impact my success at making the meals. It was all a bit of an information overload, and I was now pretty sure something very serious happened to me at Astor Corp.
Beep… beep… beep…
“Hello, this is Clare Watson. Ahh good morning, Mark, how are you?”
“Umm…” Weird as!!! “…fine.”
“Okay, please tell me how you have been the last couple of days have been? Any symptoms to report?”
“Well—
“I see, skill increases, well, thank you for your time today, Mark,” the voice on the other end said.
“Yeah, no probs…”
“We advise you don’t try to use any VR until otherwise notified.”
What?! Hell no. “Umm, sure yeah, of course.”