CHAPTER 17 - PATCHWORK -

I woke up and saw that I was alone. My brother had already left the room.

Naturally I panicked and got annoyed at myself for it.

My panel showed news in the Playground and a message from the System... actually from Earth.

I went downstairs and heard them planning their day. I waited for Coulomb to leave because I wasn't sure if I could act naturally around him. I couldn't stop thinking about Earth's proposition and I needed to speak to Coulomb about it.

Once we were outside, Stein and I levitated. I thought he was going to create a warped region of space for us to stand on then lift it but he was making us fly by continuously folding space-time around us.

Pseudo-gravity.

I noted that he had grown stronger again and he heard my thoughts.

Can you tell me what I dreamed about?

Sure.

"Hey, isn't that Joule?".

"She's skating."

Schrodinger and Newton reminded us of their presence. They floated just below us like astronauts in space unlike our underwear hero flight. I wanted to try it.

"Newton, can't you carry us all?".

"Your ES would disrupt my null-gravity field plus your ability is similar to mine so the effects would be multiplied by... a lot. Don't look at me Ein, blame the fact that you share abilities now."

She was a bit too cold. I noticed that she acted like my brother was an annoying existence she tolerated because of my competence but now she was treating him better and me worse than before. I definitely did rank higher than him in....

"Hwuk!".

"Ein, what's wrong..... Oh, Joule got shot at."

That wasn't what surprised me and I was thankful that I didn't have to explain to Schrodinger.

Schrodinger and Coulomb ?

How did that happen?

Beats me.

This Rodney Zimmerman, he sounds like he should be in the Playground. Maybe we should look for him, we might find something.

I already did.

Oh? .... As expected.

No, it was by luck. Actually it was an act of stupidity that was justified by the result. I searched for Zimmerman and got a hit.

"Look at her go, that sniper's dead."

You've verified it's not someone else with the name?

Yup. Here's what's odd. He didn't exist until yesterday and he went up to the fifth in a day. Plus he has a ton of abilities. I couldn't figure out what it was based on.

Copies abilities or creates them like the triplets?

The triplets have several disadvantages to theirs but he just does whatever he wants.

"Wall climbing?".

"She's mimicking my ability. I should sue her for theft of intellectual property."

Sounds like a dangerous person.

Yeah. He's probably going to be able to beat our Newton if he keeps climbing.

"Quite the fight they're putting up. How long do you think they'll survive?".

Are there any others like him who suddenly appeared.

As far as I know? No. But I'm not sure.

"I think they're going to escape.", I said to everyone's surprise.

"Five thousand credits."

"You gotta deal."

"Ein, they're weaklings. That doesn't count, we share everything so we have to agree before he can accept any deals."

Chill bro.

One of your hunches?

Mmmn.

As I predicted they escaped and Schrodinger looked defeated. We went to the new section and saw that it was like a different city of its own. It was out of place.

And time.

It looked like a first prize of a futuristic cityscape design contest. Complete with gravity defying architecture, flora and objects. A lot of blue light and plastic-like buildings.

Nobody was surprised to learn that entrance was limited to Savants above Level 10.

We entered the first place we saw. It was a shop for Sci-fi weapons.

This theme...

Stein and I locked eyes and then rushed to search for something and we found someone else staring at it.

The price tag was insane, it was beyond anything anyone could have right now but it was worth it.

A light....

The name here is Interactive Low-frequency Laser Blade.

I see.... I. L. L Blade. So it's a lightsaber.

"Ill Blade? This is just a lightsaber, isn't it?", Schrodinger said appearing near the blond-haired boy looking at it.

"Yup, I don't know why it always gets renamed. Everyone knows it's a light saber.", He answered then turned to look at her and he suddenly got flustered and backed away.

I wondered what scared him and saw Schrodinger crouched in front of the light saber.

From his previous perspective....

Hmmmn.... Now I understand.

Ein, someone's watching us.

They're leaving now.

Follow them.

We left the shop and Stein directed me to a boy and a girl walking away. We followed them until they turned in to an alley.

An invitation?

Probably, stay on guard.

We entered and saw them waiting for us.

"Why were you looking at us?".

"You're the one who was looking at us first.", the girl replied.

"Stein, your Awareness ability."

"Oh... We didn't mean anything by it. Sorry."

We turned around to leave then I sensed a bullet coming for us and a distortion in space-time.

"What are you doing to my teammates?", Newton said looking down on someone on the roof while she floated above her.

"Lapis, I told you not to shoot.",The boy shouted at the girl on the roof.

"So you did plan this."

"No, we didn't. Believe me, the last thing I wanted was to encounter your team."

"I find that hard to believe."

My brother scanned the surrounding buildings again.

"Newton, drop it. Let's go. They could never have done any damage to us.", I said.

"That's arrogant, you think you can beat Darwin?",the girl beside him said.

Stein took out Sol and Luna. He dashed towards Darwin and I followed behind him.

He suddenly stopped moving and I froze time immediately. I ran to the girl and placed a finger over her chest. Then I pressed play.

"Whoever did that... free him or she dies."

"All of you stop it!", the boy shouted.

Stein started moving again and grabbed the boy. Another girl materialized behind the boy and tried to stop him but Stein had used it already. The boy was going to explode any time soon. We teleported a safe distance away.

"How did you escape from my ability?", the new girl shouted. Before Stein could answer, the boy expanded and transformed into a blue semi-transparent blob then returned to normal.

"Stop fighting!",Darwin shouted.

And so we left.

There was really no way for us to beat him since we didn't understand his ability and more importantly,

It was a simple misunderstanding.

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I went up to the thirteenth once I got up. The test arena was easy to find but it was locked so that left my journey the twelfth using a regular cylinder. The boy that Laplace described sleeping in the grass.

I used my gold card and carried him into the cylinder. As I gripped the card, a flame burned in my chest when the cylinder dropped. I would never be able to get over being treated like a fool by Jolly.

I dropped him in a room near the living room. It was probably supposed to be used as a dining room but I hadn't furnished it yet. I went to get clothes for the boy and then left him there.

I went to the kitchen and met Stein on the way. He touched my arm after we talked and it felt weird. I entered the kitchen and got to work. He followed me and soon he had toast and coffee, topped with three bananas. I was focused on my cooking and thinking so I didn't speak to him. Like the previous night, I prepared a lot while I organized my thoughts again. Soon he was gone.

He looked like he was about to say something.....

I hope he comes around.

Nobody has commented on my cooking.

Strange.

Laplace entered as soon as he left. She spent a little too long at the door and I found it odd. She came too close for comfort and said a single word. We had a lot to talk about, but I was soon interrupted by IR in the form of a girl and a child approaching.

Schrodinger came in and started eating but she still didn't make any comments about my cooking. She talked about the bounty and I was surprised to learn that they went as far as a million.

I noticed Laplace staring at me and reverted to my default expression. Newton who entered in Schrodinger's shadow acted insulted about the bounty but I think she was strangely happy about it.

Newton and Schrodinger left as Joule came in. Noticing a little change in Laplace and deducing that she didn't want to talk to her, we left the kitchen but she followed us.

Stein brought the kid who was finally awake and chose the butler outfit for some reason into the living room. I was hoping I could explain and ask him but it seemed like he had taking a liking to it.

How do I explain this?

After I got out of that troublesome situation, I ended up getting into a tour with a very persistent girl. Once we left the house, I held her close and watched her turn red. I bent the light rays reflected from our bodies around us effectively rendering the two of us invisible.

Joule came out in a few minutes and she looked around then at her panel. She stopped moving and I checked with my ability. She was heating and cooling the air. She must have been trying to fly by controlling air pressure but she underestimated the weight of the human body.

She took off after that leaving a trail of water on the road. Newton, Schrodinger and the twins came out and flew off. I finally released Laplace and noticed that she was shaking.

"Are you okay?".

"Warn me before trying something like that again. It's not good for my heart".

"I'm sorry".

"How will we get there?".

"I'll run".

"What about me?".

"I'll carry you", I said lifting her. She was lighter than I thought she'd be and I said so but she didn't know how to take it.

I focused on my ability and blue zigzags surrounded us, then I dashed at my top speed which was only six times faster than I would normally be. I was still visible but at least I wouldn't slow down or stop because of fatigue. I also kept us and my electricity invisible.

We entered a shop just as Schrodinger left and saw a blond-haired boy at the back staring at something.

Ill blade.....

A lightsaber no matter how you look at it.

Then I noticed the theme of the shop and looked at it again. The boy sighed and left, a child wearing a strange hat with a parrot perched on it followed him out.

Definitely a lightsaber.

I placed my hand above the title and melted it then burnt 'lightsaber' into the metal.

"What's the point, it's going to reset by tomorrow morning and you're buying it aren't you?".

I turned to Laplace who crouched in front of it and was about to launch into a speech but....

Wow, stand up Laplace.

I bought the blade and decided to restock my weapons here. I lost all resentment I had because of the loss of my weapons. The energy weapons were solar powered and came with a battery.

And hello, guess who uses electricity.

I walked out without a dent in my credits despite my splurge completely oblivious to the fact that Savants were supposed to lose hope once they saw the prices.

I went to a gym when I saw a human shaped mass of heat approaching at high speeds. Just when I decided to test charging the plasma rifles with my ability she walked in.

"Yo....".

Schrodinger ran in and grabbed Laplace mumbling about needing her for an experiment with particle behaviour at absolute zero. When she tried to escape by pushing it to Joule, she escaped by saying she couldn't reach absolute zero and Schrodinger said that her role was observation.

"What's that about?".

"Don't know. Newton could be planning something or they could just be playing."

"Newton?....Absolute Zero, she's going to absorb all kinetic energy on a molecular level. What is she thinking of?".

"Can you try that?".

"No, it's hard to focus on atoms."

"Ein and Stein do it all the time."

"They're sharing the burden."

"I don't think that's all there is to it. Anyway, I've been thinking, maybe our abilities are simply how we want them to be. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?".

"We control what we get subconsciously?".

"And we also choose how to interpret it. For example, I could decide to use my charge manipulation to control people's bodies or cause an atomic breakdown by removing the charges on protons and electrons or.... How didn't I think of this.....".

I remembered something I had seen somewhere. I had to try it but I wasn't sure how effective it'd be. I decided to keep it as a final card.

Joule looked pleased.

"Congratulations! You're one of us now. You just figured out one of the secrets of the Playground. It is as you say. I can decide to define the air itself as energy and absorb it but I can't do it for long. It depends on how detached you are from realistic thoughts. But you can do whatever you want, if you try hard enough."

" That's... a little extreme. Who else knows this? ".

" It's not extreme. Even the triplets can't do more than borrow abilities they've seen for a few seconds or create fictional items that disappear in a few seconds or regular ones without a clear idea of how it works. It drains more than regular abilities. As for why not many people know of it, you can't tell anyone. No matter what you try, they won't hear you or see your mouth moving or be able to read what you write..."

"...Unless they're already familiar with it. I understand. Do you think anyone on my team knows?".

She sat on the floor, she must have been tired of standing.

"I think they've already found fragments of their own answers, they have to or they wouldn't be so strong. However they are following a different path, especially Schrodinger."

"What about her?".

"My guess is, she's several times more powerful than she looks."

Joule appeared dead serious.

Her somber expression left no room for arguments.

During the evening Ein came to my room and told me that he had to meet Earth and I should follow him.

He took me to a restaurant where we met him seated. We were all dressed as we would for the System meetings.

"I'm sorry for making you wait."

"I've been chosen to climb to the thirteenth with the Sun using a rare item. You're going to replace me as Earth."

A surprising but not totally unexpected proposition.

However, we had an image to maintain.

Ein accepted gracefully and immediately named me as his replacement.

Then the former Earth launched into a description of his new job for no reason.

He clearly wanted help but was divulging information that he probably shouldn't have.

But of course, it wasn't like we were going to say that.

We nodded along as he spoke of the sun and finally cleared up something.

There's someone else pulling the strings.

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