October 18, 2024 - Melbourne, Australia

Pablo… Pablo is inside The Tower?

Jack couldn't believe it. What were the odds of his two best friends being chosen like that? Wasn't it only one million people from around the world?

And Pablo… Jack had talked to him before—he knew Pablo wasn't even fond of the idea of being chosen.

"MAI, do we have visibility of the inside?"

"Yes."

"Connect me to Pablo's feed."

A screen materialized in front of him, showing a plain white room, featureless and empty. In the center of the room, looking around with a mix of shock, confusion, and fear, stood his friend.

Jack clenched his fists.

Suddenly, Pablo's lips moved. He said something.

"MAI, what did he say?"

"I can automatically generate subtitles and/or audio reproducing his voice using—"

"Cut the crap and just tell me what he said," Jack snapped, irritation sharp in his tone.

"He said: 'I… I am inside?'"

Jack slammed his fist on the table beside him.

He took several deep breaths, his eyes locked on the screen.

This was one of the things he hated most about being chosen. The idea of everyone watching you, scrutinizing your every move like you were some sort of circus animal or part of a reality show for the entertainment of a world full of disgusting creeps.

What was the need for all that bullshit?

"Cut the feed off," he ordered. The screen disappeared as he took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

But then, a sudden thought hit him. Alonso.

"MAI, show me Alonso's feed."

"Alonso's feed is currently unavailable," the robotic voice replied.

"What do you mean by unavailable?" Jack's frown deepened.

"Attempting to access it shows the prompt: No Visuals Currently Available, directly generated by The Tower itself."

Jack narrowed his eyes.

MAI and the new A.S.C.E.N.T. system had undoubtedly made things more convenient, seamlessly connecting to feeds and eliminating the hassle of turning devices on and off or being locked out of other functions while the feed was displayed. The visuals were now linked to real-time recordings on global servers, accessible like any other digital file. But convenience often came at a cost. Jack couldn't shake the suspicion that governments or institutions might manipulate these feeds for their own benefits.

Sure, the justification was always the same—respect for privacy, filtering out "sensitive" content. Yet anyone who did not use the A.S.C.E.N.T. system and accessed The Tower link directly could see the unfiltered reality if he wanted to.

But Alonso… Was it true that there were no visuals, or was something intentionally being hidden?

Jack grabbed his phone and quickly typed "The Tower Link" into his default search engine. As expected, the first result was the enigmatic, domainless link. He clicked it, and the screen immediately went black before prompting him for details.

He entered Alonso's name, his hands slightly trembling, and waited.

The screen remained black before a single line appeared: No Visuals Currently Available.

Jack stared at the message for a moment, his jaw tightening. He tried to go back, to refresh the page, even to lock his phone, but nothing worked. It was real.

He placed his phone down slowly.

Both of his friends were in The Tower. And him… what was he supposed to do now?

I close my eyes, my body constantly moving through the air, following the strange patterns Houston sends into my mind. Each pattern must be completed within the exact time Houston shows, forcing me to calculate the optimal speed and angles for each turn, keeping the margin of error below 1%.

As if that weren't enough, I have to juggle rocks with my tendrils, pushing my multitasking abilities even further—all while in full-state Overdrive. Typical Houston-style afternoon exercise.

Minutes pass, and the growing headache forces me to take a break.

I take off my mask, grab the water container, and take a sip.

"Are you free right now?"

Chiara.

"Yes. What's the matter?"

"Just checking if you're free for a chat."

"Sure."

I wait calmly, feeling the comfortable breeze hitting my face.

Several seconds later, I finally catch on to the irregularities in the wind flow, signaling her presence nearby.

Her EM cloaking, though, is absolutely top-notch.

As she lands next to me, I notice she's also wearing one of the new masks. She glances at mine, hanging from my waist, before taking hers off.

"Is it a good time?"

Stolen novel; please report.

"Fine as any other, I guess. How's it been? Did you manage to resolve the issues you mentioned?"

She nods. "Yes. It wasn't so much an issue as countermeasures, just in case I lose control again."

"That's good."

An awkward silence lingers in the air. She remains quiet, and I have no idea what to say. Did she really come here just for a casual talk?

Seconds later, she moves her hand and unsheathes her sword.

What the…

But she quickly flips it, offering me the grip.

I stare at the sword, then at her, confused.

"Ok, what's going on?"

She takes a deep breath. "My sword. I no longer need it and thought you might find some use for it."

I blink, staring at her in disbelief.

"You… don't need your sword?"

"My current condition makes using a sword ineffective."

I frown. Her condition? But with her wave output, why would a sword be ineffective?

I push the sword back toward her. "Chiara, I don't know what channel you're on, but I don't need another sword, and you do need yours. Bullets might seem like the new solution, but there's only so much power you can put into something that small. A sword lets you leverage the full weight of your body and your waves, maximizing your power and possibly being the only way to damage certain creatures."

Chiara sighs, a hint of exasperation. "It's not that."

"Then what? An apology gift? Like, 'I'm sorry for what I did, so here's my sword as a token of trust'? Seriously? I didn't tag you as that type—"

"MY BODY IS WEAK!" she shouts, her breathing growing agitated. "I'm physically weak! My body regressed! I can't properly handle a sword—it's not efficient, ok?"

I stare at her, completely lost. "What do you mean your body is weak? Is it because your weight is less compared to mine, or… your condition?"

"Just grab the fucking sword," she snaps, throwing it at me.

I catch it, feeling nothing unusual about it. Chiara walks slowly to a rock and sits down.

She remains silent, and I have no idea how to react to any of this. I'm not even sure what to do with the sword. Dual-wield? That's a whole different style, and I have zero experience with it. Well… whatever.

I notice I don't have another sheath, but before I can say anything, Chiara tosses me hers. "Sorry, I forgot about that."

"It's… ok," I reply, glancing at her. She feels off today. Is it her new state of mind? Some crazy or bipolar shift? A new Chiara?

I shake my head and attach the sword to the sheath, hanging it from my waist. At least it looks cool having two.

I walk over and sit near her. "So, what's this all about? Your body grew weaker after the mutation?"

She takes a deep breath. "I analyzed my body, and even though my current Stage Progress sits at 6.361%, my physical body has regressed to how it was back in the Oasis."

"What!?"

"So yeah. My physical reflexes, strength, muscle density, and so on have decreased significantly. I think it's the first time in my life I feel bad about losing weight," she chuckles.

"But… how? That doesn't make sense. How can a mutation in the mind affect the physical body?"

"How? You're fighting dragons after taking tiny orbs that completely rewrite your genetics and every aspect of your body, and you think this is weird?" she shakes her head. "The Tower operates under laws we can't comprehend. The more I understand, the more complex it becomes.

"As for why this is happening… I suspect it's because each of the parts my mind fractured into has less than 50% of the original's capacity. If the body is now calibrating to just one part as the standard, it's possible the body regresses to maintain equilibrium between the mind and body. Then again, there are plenty of holes in that theory too, since neurons aren't tied to just one part of the mind. Anyway… I'm working on it."

"I see… but after the mutation, your wave output increased, right?"

She nods. "Yes. It increased quite a bit, after I managed to figure out what I was missing in the model," she laughs. "You know, there's this central structure in the mind—one I call the Nexus. Humans don't have it. It's a rather mysterious element, basically what gives us the ability to emit and perceive electromagnetic waves. Let's just say I managed to scratch the surface of how it works and…" she looks at the sky, smiling. "It changed how I see everything."

I stare at her. This side of her somehow reminds me of the first impression I had of Chiara.

"So Maxwell gave us light, and Chiara gave us… I don't know, what the heck is it?"

She bursts out laughing. "Ok, that was a good one. I don't know either. Let's call it: Nexus waves."

"Nexus? What about Pillar instead?" I suggest, thinking it'd be good to settle on a common name for the structure.

"Pillar? Well, that… that's actually a good name. A Pillar where everything is built from," she says thoughtfully. "That's really good. You just came up with that?"

"I—" I suddenly hear a coughing sound in my mind. "You could say the scientific part of me did."

She frowns, grinning. "Fair enough. Ok, let's name it Pillar then. Nexus does feel a bit lacking. I was never good with names anyway."

I reckon Houston must be feeling VERY smug right now.

"By the way," she starts, "last time I saw Lukas, he came up with this new idea."

"You mean besides the bullets and the new mask?"

She nods repeatedly. "Yeah, right? The guy is like Leonardo Da Vinci with the charisma of Alexander the Great. Like, seriously, how can a guy be so fucking perfect? Even his damn face, his smile, is just…"

Alright… that sounded like a bit more than just admiration, I muse to myself.

"But he's so irritating at times. It's impossible to have a serious conversation with him. It's…"

"I see. Well, maybe talk it out with Ayu," I say, trying to dodge the love advisor role.

Chiara pauses, frowning at what I said, but I cut her off quickly. "So… what was Lukas' new idea?"

"His new… oh, yes. Well, he came up with the idea to split wave control into two schools of thought."

"Wait, yes. Now that I think about it, Ayu mentioned something like that earlier. She said something about Lukas wanting her to teach the climbers how she controlled waves and such. Yeah," I chuckle. "She even asked me for permission to teach the technique I shared with her."

"Oh, so Ayu is the teacher for the other school. Well, it makes sense. And a technique you shared—is it the one you use to enhance your physical performance?"

I nod and grin. "Interested?"

"For research purposes, maybe. For practical use, no. I have a hunch about how it works, and it should come at the cost of rational decision-making, precision, and calculated thought. That's exactly what I need the most and cannot afford to lose."

She pauses, frowning slightly, as if deep in thought.

"I'll send you some waves," she says, and before I can react, a flood of images floods my mind as I decode the signals. They include diagrams of the brain, the Pillar, equations, models, and a lot of math.

"Alright, take your time going over that. If you have any questions, just send me a long wave transmission," she says. "That covers the new model I developed, my understanding of the Nex— I mean, Pillar, and a simplified version of a special technique I created for myself, that maybe you can use," she adds, smiling with a hint of pride.

I still feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information and the complexity of the mathematical framework, but I'll go over it later with Houston.

"Well, that was… a lot to take in," I say, nodding. I was about to thank her, but I guess actions speak louder than words. "I'll send you some waves too."

I then transmit the details of how Overdrive works, along with some comments on its issues and advantages.

She stays still, processing it. A couple of seconds pass. "I see. It's pretty much what I had in mind, but the twist of using the natural flow approach to waves makes it a really good asset. Unfortunately, it's useless for me, but thanks. Maybe I can get some ideas out of it."

"Natural flow? Oh right, so that's the name of the approach Ayu will teach—the instinctive one. And you, I guess, handle the analytical one?"

"Yep. You got it right."

"That's good," I say.

We fall into awkward silence again until Chiara finally stands up. "Alright. I guess that's enough social interaction for one day," she chuckles. "Back to seclusion and research."

"Sounds fun," I say, standing as well. "But take some time to talk with Ayu. She—"

"Shit. Yes. I forgot. I mean, I set an automatic reminder for that because I know myself. Yeah. I'll send her a wave to meet up and…" She pauses, glancing at me. "I'm glad you guys got together. I know I'm the last person who should be say—"

"The past is buried, right? Go talk with her. And thanks—for the sword, the science notes, and… for opening up. With a science genius like you and a creative prodigy like Lukas, I think we've got a good chance at The Tower. Let's keep it up."

She smiles. "Thanks."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.