Quantum System

"Master. Do you see? It looks like Earth's Meta light has dimmed," Gondo said, while playing with the system before him. "There... it seems...," and then he trailed off. He was able to pinpoint the space time coordinate of the dimming, and there on the screen was the complete eradication of Ethan.

"So the forces against us were not just from without, but also within the experiment," the Master said, his voice calm. "We've long known that there are subtle and powerful forces already integrated on Earth, and they are somehow able to track localized meta events. This gives us much to think about."

"Are you not disappointed Master? We haven't seen potential like that in a while..." Gondo noticed then that there was still some residual energy on the data feed... not Meta-verse level, but some quantum activity for sure.

"Do not worry Gondo, I believe he was the first of a cluster that has arisen. The Earth is starting to enter the evolution stage, and there will be casualties. I think the other we've identified, the Seer, is more promising. He's already protected by an organization aligned with our goals. We will devote more resources to protecting Dan," the Master said. He then turned and disappeared from the observation room.

Gondo didn't disagree with the Master's assessment, but he still couldn't be so calm about the loss of Ethan. The small hints of his ability they had observed could have been the start of something massive. Not to mention, Gondo had devoted considerable effort these past few Earth months to keep Meta-verse agents from interfering with Ethan and Dan.

"Beep"

It was a quiet sound, but it resonated in the observation room. Gondo looked again at the display, and the system had recorded a tiny spike of quantum distortion at the site of Ethan's death. It was curious because months had already passed on Earth since then. Earth's time was sooo fast.

'Could it be?' Gondo wondered. He shouldn't do this. He would definitely be punished if he was caught, but there was something about that young man that made Gondo hopeful.

"If I'm going to do this, I'll need some supplies I guess," and then Gondo left the observation room too.

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The trick when fighting against short swords, is to maintain your reach advantage over distance. Luckily, Caleb had been practicing kenjutsu for years and his katana was a much longer weapon. Still, he had to admit that Dan had improved greatly in just a few short months.

Caleb strode forward, subtly shifted his weight to feign an overhead strike (a powerful move, but obvious when it is coming), at the last second he made a lunging motion and jabbed with the sword instead. Well executed, but Dan had already sidestepped and started a clumsy counter. Dan used his two swords to push Caleb's wide, and then followed with a slice. He avoided it easily, but was frustrated that Dan was avoiding his attacks too.

Rather than good with swords, Dan was really good at anticipating moves. So good that it overcame his weakness with sword fighting. Caleb could see a day when Dan would be able to dominate him... not today though.

Caleb made a hard horizontal slash towards Dan's side, but he was already moving both swords to block. Without a thought or pause, Caleb drove his left knee into Dan's exposed back.

"Fwauaahg," Dan yelled.

"Got you. you flail around like an old woman," Caleb said, all smiles.

"Ugh. That was a good hit, hurts like crazy though," Dan said, wincing. "I'm not sure I'm going to do that great overall in the ranking events. I'm ok in martial arts, I don't stab myself with a sword anymore, but I'm outrageously bad with guns still. Honestly, if I wasn't so much smarter than you, it would be impossible to beat anyone," Dan said, through a giant grin.

"That is all true, you freaking nerd. You'll do well in the hand to hand events though, so you might get an individual achievement. Don't forget, the main focus is the team events. You could win from the sweat of my talent".

Everything Caleb said was true, especially about the team events. However, Dan was going to be an important asset on their team, because strategy matters more than firepower... usually. It was worth having a dead weight gunslinger on the team if he can plan the assaults and repel the enemy. That is what Caleb told the rest of the team when he shared that Dan was part of their team now.

They had an hour before classes started, and as they were leaving the training centre Dan said, "I have to go check on something, I'll see you in class man".

"By 'check on something', you mean 'makeout with your secret girlfriend', right?" Caleb said, smiling, but curious.

The rumours about Dan being seen outside the level 2 area with a little hottie had been big news at first, but most people discounted it since the Academy levels didn't mix at all and the girl wasn't in their group. There was still a little mystery around Dan though. Caleb had tried a few times to learn why he transferred into the Academy so late. Caleb himself tranferred here when he was 10 after his family died in a terror attack. Since then the Academy has been his whole life.

"I wish, but all the girls here can kick my ass," Dan said with an easy laugh. He turned to walk away when he crumpled to the floor. He hadn't made a sound, except when his head thwocked off the ground.

"Dan!!"

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The scene of the 'accident' had been cleaned up completely, and yet, Gondo could see the signs left after destruction. The facade of the buildings closest to the blast looked mismatched, with large swaths of all new bricks clashing with the weathered originals. The street had patches and dark spots, and some of the ground level shops still had plywood in the windows.

'Life moves on. That is one of the strengths of these humans,' Gondo thought to himself. As he looked around, he spotted the area where Ethan died. There was a big patch in the asphalt there. As he approached, he blinked hard, and when his eyes opened again they were black. All black. If someone looked closely (if they didnt' run screaming), they'd think they were looking at a nearly empty starscape. Gondo's vision now transcended the visible spectrum, he couldn't really see the physical reality in front of him because his view was consumed by billions of particles, radiation, electromagnetic fields and charged potentials. From this perspective, this quiet street looked like the heart of a turbulent galaxy. 'So much wonder is around, just below the mundane,' it wasn't the first time Gondo thought this. His meta field view made him indespensible in the Master's research of the Meta-verse, but this was one of the few times he was using it to take action without the Master's knowledge.

'Where are you...?' As he scanned the space around him, people gave him a wide berth, even without the field vision eyes, Gondo was an imposing figure.

"There you are." Between the electron clouds, the constant flashes of neutrinos and all the sources of radiation, Gondo could see a flickering cloud of potential. It was different then the broad view he had of the particles making up the matter nearby, they were in a predictable shape, and, just by observing them the electron clouds stayed relatively coherent. Not this amorphous field he spied near Ethan's death marker, it seemed to flash in and out of existence, changing location each time. Gondo couldn't see the particles that it was made of, but the flashes and instantaneous location change let him know that he was witnessing a cohesive quantum... object? He wasn't sure what he'd find, but he was still struggling with the implications.

"Ethan. Ethan. I don't think you can hear me, or see me, but trust me when I say I'm here to help you," Gondo said, and then placed a small indigo cube on the ground. To Gondo's eyes, it was the brightest thing in the area, and the free particles, fields and radiation were all being drawn towards it. The quantum object flashed near the box and disapeared. Immediately the cube became incandescent and Gondo switched his vision to the visible spectrum.

There, in the middle of the street where the cube had been, was a rapidly manifesting teenaged boy. Ethan's form went from transparent to fully actualized in a moment... and naked. Gondo placed his dark overcoat over Ethan's unmoving form and then walked away.

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"Dan, Dan!", Caleb yelled as he rolled Dan over onto his back. Dan opened his eyes and gave his head a shake.

"Are you okay man?" Caled looked really concerned. People don't normally pass out mid stride, and he was worried it was because of their sparring match earlier.

"Yeah, yeah, sorry. I don't know what happened, I just blinked and I was on the ground here," Dan said. He really was confused, it was like he teleported from standing to laying on the floor. His head felt a little strange too... understandable he supposed.

"Let's get you to the medic station. Maybe you have a concussion... from my knee?" Caleb said, a question in his voice.

"I'm good, let me just catch my breath." Dan stood, but he noticed something in the corner of his vision. As soon as he focused on it, he almost fell down again. A large transparent display popped up, like a game HUD.

[QUANTUM SYSTEM]

[Daniel Sandman: Quantum Human]

[Class: Observer]

[Skills:]

- [Parallel Sight] [Level 3]

- [Foresight] [Level 1]

[Entanglements: Computer]

"What the fuck!" Dan said out loud.

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