Ein lead the team to the cylinder which descended when Babbage cleared the void.
The instant they got in, it closed and took them up as expected. Stein smiled as he looked down on the rest trying to figure out how to get across.
Even among geniuses, I'm still a cut above. Of course I'd get the Einstein codename.
He laughed at the people trying their best below. His voice was heard below and he knew it. It didn't matter after all, it's the right of the strong to pick on the weak. That was his reasoning.
The cylinder disappeared into the clouds. From where it became brighter until they had to shield their eyes.
The light gradually faded. There was a Sun here instead of just a cloudy sky. They were in a city straight out of an RPG as expected. The creator seemed to like to follow conventional ideas for his world building. But there wasn't anyone there.
As they stepped out of the cylinder onto the cobbled street, their panels appeared again. It congratulated them on safely making it to the next floor.
Newton involuntarily shivered as she grasped the hidden meaning.
We can be attacked during a level change. That's overkill. I wonder what happens if the cylinder breaks.
But the others didn't seem to care, they were more interested in what lay below.
CHOOSE YOUR LEVEL UP BONUS
Schrodinger murmured, "Finally. "
"Ein, What do we do?", She said.
He looked surprised by her question. Whether that was honestly how he felt was debatable though.
"I don't have anything to say, I just wanted to avoid the creation of an official party by becoming leader, Stein sh...", he stopped as he noticed Stein raising his hand.
"I told you before, he's usually not that assertive. Why don't we just pick what we want, I doubt our abilities will be able to work together anymore than we can make them.... As Schrodinger, you should have probability alteration abilities right?"
"The effects aren't stated clearly, but I have 'Clover - a good luck charm', 'Death's Head - a bit of bad luck for your enemies' and 'Chesire - Now you see me....'"
" ... I'd go with the odd one, Cheshire... After all Schrodinger needs a cat, no?", she said laughing as she tapped her panel.
"My turn.", Stein shouted, "'Portal', 'Horizon' and 'Circuit', I'm picking horizon."
Coulomb, Ein and Newton silently made their choices.
The panel disappeared and a new one appeared.
CONGRATULATIONS.
YOU HAVE UNLOCKED YOUR INHERENT ABILITY.
"I got a bonus, 'spatial manipulation.' ", Stein shouted.
"You're too loud.", Coulomb said, "So did I, 'Charging'."
"As expected, my bonus is Probability manipulation.",Schrodinger said.
"Then Ein should have temporal manipulation and Newton should have gravity manipulation.",Coulomb said.
Ein puffed his chest out and looked away. He knew he hit jackpot with his ability, it had so much potential to be the most fearsome depending on what limitations are set.
Newton on the other hand apologized. They didn't seem to hear her.
Stein was pissed with Ein's smug look and was trying to hit Ein on his head, but Ein kept dodging his hand.
"I'm Sorry.", Newton shouted louder, her face red.
They finally noticed and paid attention to her.
Schrodinger knelt beside her, and then Newton started crying.
"What? ", Coulomb questioned her.
She kept repeating her former statement.
"What's wrong?", Schrodinger asked.
Newton pointed at her panel which was invisible to the others but they understood.
She didn't get her gravity manipulation.
Stein hissed.
Ein hit his head.
Coulomb stared stupefied.
Schrodinger tried to remove her tears.
"Damn..... What a waste.", Stein said.
"Stein, stop it.", Ein said harshly.
"But it's so depressing, I thought Newton would be a good pick when I saw her, I'm not angry at her but at myself for making a mistake."
"Stein !!", Ein shouted.
Coulomb heard something he could never forget.
He said 'when he saw her'.
Come to think of it, how'd he know who we were. Ein approached me like he knew exactly who I was.
He decided to ignore it for now.
"Newton, What did your upgrade panel say?"
She just kept sobbing.
Children.
"Newton, make your panel visible for us, okay?".
From their perspective her hands danced in the air.
A few seconds later, they saw the familiar light blue color of the panel but with Newton's face.
'First Law - Things should remain as they are'
'Momentum - For maximum impact'
'Apple - Doesn't fall far from the tree'
"It's clearly Apple, right?", Schrodinger said puzzled. It wasn't a question.
But Newton burst into a fresh bout of tears as she tapped Apple.
You do not meet the requirements for this ability.
I see, it's not about whether you can spot the obvious but a hidden requirement.
Is it really hidden?
Newton couldn't make it by her own power, we had to pull her up, perhaps she hasn't completely let go of the old world.
Still, to think you can unlock bonuses and not meet the requirements....
"That's it.", Coulomb suddenly declared, "Newton, this is a game, you should be able to leave it for later, don't pick yet if you can avoid it."
She nodded and closed the panel.
"By the way, let's have a look at everyone's panel while we're at it.", Coulomb said.
Schrodinger, Stein and Coulomb's panels appeared as they fiddled in the air.
"Ein?", Schrodinger said expectantly.
"How do I put this..... It appears I can't bring it out anymore."
"Since when?", she asked with acid in her voice as she narrowed her eyes.
He laughed nervously.
"Since we got here.", Stein said pointing at his panel.
The name was Einstein and both of their pictures were there.
He deactivated it and gestured to Ein.
Ein brought out the panel and verified that he acquired temporaral manipulation.
"Then why'd you get excited when you weren't sure?", Schrodinger asked exasperated.
"I can't fail, not when...", He was going to say ' the likes of you passes' but stopped himself for Newton's sake.
She heard the unsaid words anyway and stood straight and declared :
"I'm going to take the ability, the first ability, I won't hold us back anymore, I swear on my real name, Kathryn Reed".
Yes, yes, very brilliant, like a line from Shonen.... What next, you'll cut yourself?
Coulomb held back his laughter because she was honestly, naively, trying her best. But he noticed that she still knew her real name, she must have held on to something from the old world just before reaching the goal and that was why she fell.
Doesn't she realize that she isn't going in the right direction?
Stein laughed at Newton's spontaneous proclamation.
"What was that?..... A line from a B-Movie?"
A new notification appeared beside them.
GUIDE UPDATED
"It seems we've finally started our adventure in the playground." , Coulomb said.
"Zone... Huh?", Stein was puzzled as he looked at the panel in front of Ein".
To summarize, our inherent abilities are only useful within our Efferent Zone and when the Efferent Zones of two or more people overlap with conflicting effects then only the ability with a stronger Zone Strength is applied.
And right now our Efferent Zone is just 2cm away from our bodies.
How useless.
Perhaps Newton not getting gravity manipulation was godsend.
Manipulating gravity within 2 cm of your body only has use for movement.
Stein sighed. In the end he was right to pick Newton.
Ein laughed softly.
"I see, it also says that the effects will not be retained outside our Interference Zone unless specified."
Stein finally grasped the meaning of the rule.
Then Ein's manipulation can only be used to speed up the relative time of objects in his Zone for apparent rapid movement.
How useless.
And we have zero physical combat abilities.
Do we?
"Anyone know any martial arts?".
Newton raised her left hand slowly.
You're kidding right?
He sighed for the thousandth time.
"Well, we don't gain anything by standing around, to the next test."
"Wait", Schrodinger said, "What's the rush?"
"I agree.", Coulomb said, "We should take advantage of the fact that we are the first and explore, the test can wait."
"Ein ?", Stein asked.
"Let's do as Stein says... Please."
************************************
Seven years and 348 days old.
Rodney did his calculations again as he cursed.
He didn't care what people around him thought.
He never did.
He shook his head trying to clear his mind. His jet-black hair didn't move however. It was stuck to his head because of dried juice.
He wasn't bullied. He did it himself. He was depressed and his lifeless brown eyes showed it.
He stuffed his hands in his coat pocket. He was still in the uniform of the overpriced State Academy he attended. He was supposed to be in school, his expensive wristwatch told him that.
But no-one dared to disturb him as he walked silently down the road with a murderous intent.
He passed a store that had the TV on and heard that more children had already passed the first test and were now on the 1st Level.
He cursed again and ran at full speed. People on the street made way for him as he did not show any signs of stopping, he continued to run even across the road without looking.
He didn't care about living anymore. The reason was simple. He missed the biggest chance of his life just because his mother carried him in her womb for 11 months.
He had studied the sudden disappearance of the children. Their ages were from 8 to 19. In other words the only reason he wasn't picked was because his birthday was still roughly 2 months away.
He hit someone, stumbled and fell. But he didn't feel like getting up. For the first time in his life, he felt helpless and broken.
He knew he would have been chosen if he met the age requirement. After all Kathryn was chosen and compared to him she was an airhead.
He screamed on the floor as he curled into a fetal position. He cursed loudly.
A shadowy outline of a human appeared through his eyelashes.
"You know, for a kid, you got a pretty foul vocabulary.",the shadow said chuckling.
**********************************
Marie was still at her desk, it was barely a day after the disappearance of the children.
She went home yesterday still clinging to the foolish hope that her brother would be there.
But he wasn't, just as reported. Feeling disgusted at herself for being disappointed, she went back to the office.
He never made it to school yesterday morning and she'd seen videos of what had happened to other children.
They were enveloped in a column of light and then they disappeared.
She didn't sleep when she got back, instead, she watched the Playground's live feed, waiting for when his Specific View would be active again.
She suspected that he was asleep, afterall from the Main View still on the test level a lot of Savants were asleep.
She noticed that it was 7 : 23 AM.
People would be arriving soon. She didn't move though. She closed her eyes and then she suddenly pushed herself up.
It was a reflex action.
She turned to see an idiot's smile.
It was her partner, Sam, he stroked his ginger beard as he studied her pose.
Quickly realizing what was happening, she straightened herself.
He sighed and pushed his glasses with his left index.
He dropped 2 cups of coffee on her table and went to drop his bag and get a chair. He dragged it on the floor instead of lifting it, his silent rebellion against order and common sense as usual.
Except it wasn't silent this time.
"So, what do you want to do?", he said.
She stared at him puzzled.
Not 'Are you okay?', or 'How are you doing' or even 'Good morning' but 'what are you going to do?'.
However, his insensitivity was exactly what she needed.
"Good morning to you too.", she said sarcastically grabbing both cups. He didn't resist.
"Alright, since you insisted, I'll help you out just this once.", he said.
He stood up and went to his desk again, he took his laptop out of his bag.
"So first, the most asked question, Who?", he said like the presenter in a game show.
"Number 1.", he paused for dramatic effect, "Aliens.", he said playing a clip of a girl disappearing,"For obvious reasons, the major culprit is an extraterrestrial species with advanced technology."
Well it did look like an alien abduction in a B-Movie.
"Number 2."
"Let me guess, the government.", Marie said during his pause.
His face showed his displeasure in being interrupted.
But he snapped his fingers.
"Since, you're familiar with conspiracy theories, no point stretching further, every wealthy or powerful organization and/ or people affiliated with them are suspects."
He grabbed a cup beside her and took a sip. Then he continued.
"Now, Why?"
"Is there anything that doesn't sound like a conspiracy theory that would be impossible to believe even in a B-Movie?".
He looked hurt.
"But that's exactly what's happening, luv.", he said recovering, "Reality as we know it ended yesterday, this is the beginning of a new era, no matter what happens, things will never be the same again."
Marie felt a wave of depression spread through her body.
Sam noticed his error and said, "Well, I'm actually rooting for an unnoticed theory..... This is the work of someone who was bored with this world, perhaps who felt that he was way more intelligent than the people around him, he must have done this to find someone who can challenge him as an equal and a rival."
He speaks like he understands the feelings of the creator.
Noticing her suspicious stare, he smiled sheepishly.
"So, what will you do?".
"No one wants to take this case anyway, I'm sure the editor'll make an exception on the no attachments rule if you indicate interest."
"I've already taken it.", she said.
He looked surprised, probably his first genuine emotional reaction that day.
Probably his only too.
"Well, what are we waiting for, let's get going."
"To where?".
"Does it matter, better than sitting and doing nothing."
She followed him as he skipped out with his yellow satchel. Sure, he was an idiot and as fickle as they come but with him, she felt like they could find something, she ran after him without noticing that she was smiling.
********************************
As they walked on the street, heading to a destination that still remained a mystery to Marie, she heard a TV broadcast of the Playground that more children made it to the 1st level.
She stopped and looked at the TV in the store.
She didn't notice that Sam didn't stop for her. When Sam reached an intersection, he realized she wasn't beside him and he turned to see her at the store.
He yelled her name, when he got hit by a really hard object at his back.
Marie ran towards him as he turned back to inspect the object that collided with him.
It was a boy who looked to be about 8 or 9, he had all the makings of a spoiled brat, from the expensive attire to disregard for his surroundings and other people.
He sobbed on the floor in a fetal position and cursed every few seconds.
Just when he was about to start punching the ground, Sam interrupted him.
At least he was about to but the boy seemed to have noticed his presence as he looked up.
"You know, for a kid, you got a pretty foul vocabulary. ", he said chuckling.
***********************************
Even though they said they'd go for the test immediately,they stopped at an inn to rest at night. It was going to take a lot more time to get there than they'd imagined. It was there that they noticed the first NPCs.
They had more than sufficient currency according to their panel and it seemed the NPCs had insane AI programs which made them very much like a human, so making conversations and obtaining rooms didn't take too much time.
Coulomb refused to share, so they took 3 rooms with the obvious pairings.
When they woke up, they felt hungry and were fascinated by the hunger. It felt so real, actually there was the probability that this was their real bodies. But then, how'd they respawn at the test?
None of them actually experienced the 'death' and while they had breakfast Coulomb stated that he wished he had died at least once.
Newton was disturbed by his statement and became even more disturbed when the others nodded in agreement.
"I know, I'll kill you. ", he said to Stein brandishing his fork.
"Please don't, we can't respawn again. ", he said hurriedly.
"Ah....", he exclaimed, "I forgot. "
"That didn't sound honest at all.", Stein shouted leaping over the table to Coulomb.
Coulomb merely grabbed Stein with both hands and Stein's body vibrated as his hair stood up straight.
Blowing air into his open palms as he let Stein fall, he said, "I will never get used to this."
"Damn it.", Stein shouted, "I'll get my revenge ten thousand fold once my powers grow."
He took his seat and ate silently. His eyes still twitched sporadically but Ein couldn't tell if it was caused by the electricity or anger.
Newton tried unsuccessfully to stifle her laughter, Schrodinger on the other hand didn't bother, she laughed at Stein without caring what anyone thought.
"I've been thinking about this, but we should look more like we belong here, so we should change our outfits.",Schrodinger said.
"Denied."
"Refused."
"I disagree."
Ein, Stein and Coulomb said simultaneously.
They headed for the testing site as indicated by the guide.
Around noon, they reached a place which looked like a battle arena from an ancient civilization.
"The absolute worst.", Ein said.
"Right now, we have zero apparent combat skills.", Stein added.
"I got my power.", Coulomb said.
"But it requires physical contact and you don't look like you're able to run very fast or even have a strong grip.", Schrodinger shot him down.
"To be told that by a pretty girl hurts you know.", he said grabbing his chest as he feigned physical pain.
"I can.....", Newton trailed off as they stared at her daring her to continue.
She succumbed to the pressure, crouched and turned around.
"For now we can explore and maybe even lay traps, after all no one is here yet.", Ein said.
"Oh... And who decided that?", a loud commanding voice came from the other side.
Appearing out of the shadows of a pillar, 4 girls stared at them.
"We'll be your opponents, you arrogant bastards..... Looking down on us just cause you passed the test first."
CHALLENGE RECOGNIZED
Verification pending
"We're in trouble, guys.", Stein said, "Prepare for combat."
"Prepare for.....", Unable to continue repeating the cringe-worthy words, Schrodinger laughed, "Sorry, Sorry, It's just that this situation, those lines, definitely B-Movie material."
CHALLENGE VERIFICATION SUCCESSFUL
30 Seconds till combat begins