4 Chapter 4 - Marvelous Technology (Part 1)

Sylzone was sitting on a chair in the break room of his dormitory.

Since he had not left his room since waking up, he had no idea how the world had changed. The only things he knew were from the memories he had seen. However, some time had passed since the very first memory. Things changed a lot in 100 years, especially in this era.

In comparison to his original world, the technology here advanced at a much more significant pace. The main technology companies he knew of did not exist, ever. Instead, companies like "Lifetime of memories" and "Everlasting dream" commanded 66% of the market. The reason they didn't command more than that was because of global rules that heavily discouraged companies from commanding a monopoly. The penalties were so strict and enforced so heavily that after a company known as "Tough Souls" forcefully claimed 50% of the market for nutritional supplements and training gear, they got mysteriously sent into bankruptcy and this scared everyone else. Now only a shell of tough souls remains, which became a subsidiary of another health company.

Unlike in his previous life, the current society was pro consumer and nearly every member of government supported this ideology. Big corporations had a lot of financial power, but without the manpower to back them up, they were helpless against the current trends of society. Thus, the current era where customers instead of corporations benefited from technology led to a huge increase in quality of life.

The current area Sylzone was waiting in reflected this. Before he could even get in, he had to scan not only his school ID, but also have his handprint scanned to check for any record of wrong-doing. Fortunately, his previous body had a squeaky clean record.

The moment he walked into the room, he was greeted by a personal host who asked him if he wanted anything. They had coffee, snacks, candy, sandwiches, and other goodies. There were premium offerings as well, but you had to pay out of pocket for them. Gourmet meals, pure mountain water, flavored water, therapeutic massages, tailors, and game consoles were set up for those who could afford it.

Sylzone was completely and utterly shocked by all of this. Was this still even a break room? It seemed like a VIP room at some 5 star hotel. All of this just for students as well! He had a hard time imagining what luxury would be like in the private sector after taking it all in. After finding a place to sit, he watched his host gather the stuff he requested. He wanted to see the magic of this world with his own eyes.

As he started to observe the host prepare his coffee, he mentally prepared himself. To his surprise, the host didn't actually do anything. He just entered a bunch of commands into a panel. Then a pair of mechanical arms popped up from the table and took over from there.

He had ordered a light coffee with cream and sugar. A bowl was placed underneath a glass chute connected to a complex that contained a wide array of beans. The selected beans seemed to rise up on their own and traveled through a tube, eventually landing into the bowl. The bowl was then transferred to a platform inside a grinding machine. Then a grinder appeared and started processing the beans. The aroma that was released was so powerful that it traveled to where he was sitting.

There were multiple hosts making coffee at the same time, but somehow, he could only smell the ones he asked for. He knew it was his because he had asked for mint flavored coffee due to the stimulating sensation mint produced. He was tired from the previous days so mint seemed like the best choice. The mint aroma was powerful but not overbearing.

'There must be some kind of special mechanism that filters these smells, but how can it be targeted to an individual like this?'

After the beans were grounded, the bowl left the machine and arrived at another machine. It dumped the grounded beans into the canister in that machine. There was also a teacup underneath that canister. After it dumped the grounded beans, the bowl went into a trap door that appeared out of nowhere and disappeared.

Above the canister that held the grounded beans, a nozzle appeared and when it approached the canister, a circular hole appeared and the nozzle plugged into it. A panel opened to reveal a glass window on the canister. The nozzle then pumped milk into the canister. On the glass window, a holographic display popped up. It showed the temperature, pressure, and time remaining.

In the canister, the beans seemed to get smaller and smaller as milk drizzled out from underneath. Strangely, while the milk itself still appeared white, a powerful aroma of mint gushed out. Once it hit him, he immediately felt a feeling of vigor wash over him. He couldn't help but gasp.

Once the timer hit 0, the beans popped back out to their full size and the contents of the canister were dumped. The canister itself disappeared inside a compartment on top and the sounds of water being splashed could be heard.

The teacup beneath the canister was now 3/4 full. Next, additional nozzles appeared and hovered above the teacup. A mixer also appeared in the center of the nozzles and started warming up. Then, sugar, cream, and other liquids started to flow out from the nozzle at different intervals as the mixer plunged into the milk.

The mixer then began combining the liquids with the milk. As the mixer increased in speed, a wall of liquid could be seen rising. However, the liquid did not spill out once it passed the height of the cup. Instead, it kept rising up until it reached the top of the inside of the machine. After a full minute, the wall of liquid still did not spill out. Finally, the liquid settled, the nozzles quickly retracted, and the mixer disappeared as well. Then, a green light appeared to signal the coffee had finished brewing.

The host then took the teacup and handed it to Sylzone before heading off to grab the other items he requested.

Before Sylzone even touched the teacup, his mind was recounting everything he had just seen.

'The secret was definitely in the canister. The post-filtered aroma was terrifyingly strong, but how was I able to smell both the pre-filtered and post-filtered smells? Also, that wall.. How did it not fall out of the cup at those heights?'

He had racked his brain from the previous lifetime, but nothing he knew could explain what he saw. Also, the earliest memory he had was from 100 years ago and nothing he saw matched with what was in front of him. He could only rely on his own thoughts.

Regarding the canister, as he saw the beans compressing, he immediately thought of compression, and when he was overwhelmed by the post flavored milk, he thought of penetration. Additionally, when the cup was finally brought to him, despite the steam, he did not smell heat. Instead, all he smelled was the actual flavor of the coffee, which was primarily mint.

Since he was at a dead end currently, he decided to process the taste next.

Upon grabbing the handle, he noticed that the cup itself started to feel warmer, almost as though some type of cooling had been activated. His eyebrows raised up. He then pulled the cup towards his lips. When it was right next to his lips, he tilted the cup. Immediately, all the steam that should've hit his face vanished, but he could still see steam rising.

As the coffee touched his lips, flowed down his tongue, and drained into the back of his throat, he was surprised that it felt not too warm but not too hot either. Additionally, he felt the strong flavors of the bean and the milk working together. The only thing on his mind was, how pleasurable.

After he took a few gulps, he put the teacup down and focused on it. He realized that everything in the process of consuming coffee, from the creation to the experience was personally tailored for him. He could only imagine how much more powerful the flavor would be on medium and strong.

As he mulled over this discovery, the host had finally come over with a bunch of snacks.

"Sir, I hope you have a wonderful day!" the host said with a smile on his face.

Sylzone nodded and thanked him.

He turned his eyes towards the food in front of him.

Chips and fruit. That was his food when he was in college in his previous life. He didn't have the cash to afford much else. Everything was spent on books and other class materials.

What caught his attention first was the bag of chips. It advertised 5 different flavors. Chocolate, strawberry, rock road, marshmallow, and banana. He grabbed the bag and opened it. He looked inside but they were all plain.

'Where are all the flavors?'

He took one and put it in his mouth. As he chewed, it only confirmed his initial though; he only tasted a regular chip. He grabbed the bag and looked over it carefully, but he didn't find what he was looking for. Confused, he looked at his surroundings to try and see if anybody else was having chips.

Quite a few people were and Sylzone noticed that they placed a finger on a flavor on the bag for a few seconds before letting it go. Some of them even shared the same bag and had to press on a flavor again before grabbing a chip.

This led Sylzone to a theory that left him momentarily motionless.

He then imitated what he saw, and this time, he chose marshmallow and felt a peculiar sensation from the bag.

'That's it! The magic is in the bag!'

He grabbed a chip and put it in his mouth. He immediately tasted marshmallow.

After swallowing the chip, he raised his head in contemplation.

Something altered the composition of the chip in the bag. There's no way something just changes in taste like that. However, as he wracked his head, he couldn't think of any method to do what he had seen. You could change the composition of your taste buds themselves to be more sensitive to sweet or savory, and you could directly alter the product itself through genetic modification, but to do it without any manual intervention? That method didn't exist in his previous life.

'It seems, a lot of the mysteries will be solved once I start taking these classes' he thought.

Finally, he turned to the banana. He didn't have any theories about this one but he was still curious. The coffee and chips were still handled or processed using custom techniques, but the banana was as natural as you could get.

Did they modify the planting process or genetically alter the seed somehow?

He grabbed the banana and held it. Nothing felt strange. It felt like the banana he used to know. He then peeled the banana and observed both the fruit and the inside of the skin. Nothing strange. Confused, he bit into the banana and chewed but still didn't notice anything. After he finished eating it, he rested his chin on his hands.

"Hey man! I guess you don't have a bio-mechanical chip installed yet?" the voice of a young man asked.

Startled during the middle of his thinking, Sylzone turned his head towards the sound of the voice. A young man was staring at him, lips slightly raised.

"Bio-mechanical chip? No, I don't have one installed yet. Why are you asking?" Sylzone asked.

"Well, based on your earlier reactions, you're new here and this is the first time you're seeing this stuff?" the young man asked.

Although he thought it was weird Sylzone acted like he was seeing this stuff for the first time, he eventually shrugged it off. Although technology was very dominant, there were always some obscure corners of the world where it didn't reach. Perhaps he came from such a place.

His guess was almost correct, except instead of coming from an obscure corner, he came from another world.

Sylzone immediately realized the implications behind the man's question and immediately started panicking a little. However, he quickly calmed down once he viewed the question as another mystery to solve. How would he convince this man he had indeed seen this stuff for the first time, without revealing he was a stranger to this world? The only plausible answer that was also the safest happened to coincide with the young mans' thought as well.

"My father didn't want me to be distracted during my studies so he had me focus on the important stuff when I was younger. A lot of this stuff is indeed new to me!" Sylzone replied after thinking.

The young man nodded.

"That makes sense then. I'm Rueo by the way! 3rd year Junior" Rueo said as he walked up to Sylzone and extended a hand.

"I'm Sylzone, 1st year Freshman" Sylzone nodded in response and also extended his hand.

They shook and Sylzone noticed Rueo had an exceptionally powerful grip.

"You practice self defense?" Sylzone asked.

Rueo had a big smile on his face at the mention of self defense. He then awkwardly smiled as he scratched the back of his head.

"It's nothing much, I know a little. I can take care of myself but I'm not an expert… Oh, that reminds me! I came over because I noticed you acting confused after you ate that banana. The truth is, if you have a bio-mechanical chip installed, you can reap the full benefits of eating the banana!" exclaimed Rueo.

"Reap the benefits?" Sylzone asked.

"Yeah! When you consume any fruits or vegetables, the nutrients inside will get absorbed by the chip and depending on what it's meant to do, you can then use the nutrients immediately or store it for later use. The chip allows you to manipulate those nutrients directly rather than depending on your body to properly manage it" Rueo explained with a wide grin on his face.

"I'm guessing you've used them quite successfully?" Sylzone asked, noticing the expression that stayed on Rueo's face.

"Indeed! I've been using mines to supplement my self defense for the past three years!" Rueo said.

He then flexed his arms, showing off his ripped muscles. However, instead of big giant arms, they were well proportioned.