Once Isaac regained some composure, he decided what to do with the Caelum that was staring so intensely at him. Should he say something? Congratulate him on the draw with Darius?
These were some of the thoughts going through his stinging head.
What am I supposed to say to this Clanker?
Drawing from the experience of the Magister, Isaac first decided to get rid of his 'contact lens'.
"Topological Anchor V2: Deactivate."
I've been using it for more than 2 hours… The mental toll sting added to being knocked out.
Ow…
"What wa一."
"Isaac~ Agerea to Isaac~ You okay, dude?"
Naturally, her voice reaches him first.
"Ah… Fuck… Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Thanks for caring, Alyssa. What about you?"
"Well, thanks to you, I'm fine. Seriously tho, you didn't need to grab me like that; my Concordees would have protected us either way, yk? Unless you just wanted an excuse to look cool and hold m—"
"Yeah, go fuck off with that idea, Alyssa."
She cackled while setting the awakening Isaac on his two feet.
"Still, thanks for caring for me. Appreciate it lots."
"Don't mention it. You ready for the TRC?"
"Of course I'm ready! Personally, I'm hoping for a Δ-Type: π-Type Build because... you know." She smiles. "But honestly, anything's a gift. Just getting a Build at our age is already incredible, yk?"
"Of course. Hmmm… Yeah, a π-Type would resonate with your Concordees well, wouldn't it? I think a Δ-Type: Σ-Type would suit me. I mean..."
Isaac flexed his skinny arms with mock pride, not helping with what had just passed.
"Yeah…"
"Oh, come on! I thought you were relatively strong when you guarded me from Carmine."
No way my strength stat goes to 2-Stars like that…
"If it bothers you so much, you shouldn't waste your energy on a Matrix that you could otherwise achieve the results from training."
No improvement? Phew…
"I know, I know."
"If anything, make use of the matriculation month access to the Yves Houses Gym. After that, the membership is cheaper for students as well. Like, way cheaper than any gyms outside. It's also super stacked with equipment…"
She rambled on and on.
I think she has a passion for exercising… Can tell…
"Still, even if strength is something readily accessible, enhancement would help someone like me further push it. I'm definitely fine with In-Threading, but physically? I'm quite behind the rest."
Alyssa lights up.
"Oh yeah, I heard something wild about that! The students started theorizing that your Thaumitons are exhibiting non-standard color confinement symmetry. The gluon field within your Thaumitons is theorized to show unorthodox SU(3) phase behavior, where instead of collapsing into standard red-green-blue configurations. Yours is an amalgamation of unknown gluon color charges. That's insane! Is it natural?!"
Hah… What sounds like bullshit again…
| Attribute: I Think Therefore I Hate, I Hate Therefore I Am Activated |
Isaac nods.
"Word spread horrendously fast, huh?"
"Yeah! Absolutely! Other than C一."
She blinked, turned right, and waved.
Shit.
"Ah yeah, Caelum. Hi, Caelum!"
His head turns slightly, away from Isaac's back to her face, eyes lighting up, then dying down.
"Hello, Alyssa. It's our first time meeting outside of the time you approached me during orientation."
Isaac freezes.
Alyssa leans in, undeterred, and shakes his hand.
"Oh, don't be so cold to me," she pouts, mock-offended. "I didn't mean any harm then, nor do I now."
"…Aight, my bad," Caelum replies, flatly.
Alyssa scored a point in a game only she played.
"You and Isaac apparently showed the most anomalous QCD color distributions EINA's seen in 647 years. I think you'd make a terrifying duo; have you considered teaming up for the coursework in the future?"
Ah… Alyssa… Just as I was starting to not mind you… Screw it.
You didn't have to bring him in…
Isaac forces a smile.
Because the two are here now, once more face to face.
The Actor and the Anomaly face to face.
"We haven't met before," he says, extending a hand. "What's your name?"
MF bastard… What a liar.
Okay. Fine la… Play liddat.
"Isaac. Isaac Mun." Clasping his hand firmly, adding extra emphasis. "You're Caelum Veldt, right? That was a remarkable duel you had with Darius."
His grip is solid, that of a man who's purposely suppressing his strength in handshakes. The slight twitch and adjustment of his grip strength. Caelum, as expected, stays infuriatingly neutral. The only thing Isaac noticed up close once again was the gold glint that returned to his eyes. Something that was not present even with his closest companions down the line.
"Thank you," he says, soft and even. "It was a tough duel."
Isaac nods slightly, not letting the silence linger too long, unlike the inhabitant of this story.
"I agree. But your utilization of the battlefield was excellent—especially the way you triggered a synthetic blast furnace by combining calcium carbide and water. A clever exploitation of chemical energetics mid-combat. Really impressive."
Caelum tilted his head ever so slightly; he even blushed. "It wasn't that great."
Deflecting praise? Or just deflecting attention?
"Accept credit when credit is due, dude." Isaac kept his tone polite but edged with insistence.
He says nothing.
Who would yield first? Who would reveal more?
Me or you?
Isaac pressed forward.
"So. What Topological Matrix are you aiming for, Caelum? I imagine someone capable of wielding all four fundamental Modules has options. Quite the talent among talents, y'know?"
"Aiming for Σ-Type: Speed Build," he says plainly. "I need to work on dodging. Out-Threading Dome defenses cost too many Thaumitons over time, plus it's always a bonus to flex your precision in speed."
It's not a very calculated response, with lots of emotional payload.
But it does confirm something.
He values showmanship over sustainability.
That's a choice similar to his original, going brute force over efficiency… Which should have been extinguished in this New EAA.
So why does he hold the same values as back then?
"Ah… Reflecting on your decision during the duel? It's a wise choice," Isaac replied, locking eyes with him. "But wouldn't you go for a Δ-Type if your κ Coherence Value allowed it?"
"Of course I would," Caelum answered without pause. "And you?"
"Me?" Isaac shrugged faintly. "I assume you overheard my little exchange with Alyssa. Shouldn't be hard to guess."
Alyssa let out a stifled huff. It would be intellectual to assume she was fully aware that the two were fencing behind words. She also wished to point something out. Yet these two individuals were so focused on their conversation that they ignored the amazement she displayed; so did Isaac, turning for a few seconds.
Shift the conversation trajectory...
"Actually… Why are you so cold to Alyssa?" I push. "I don't mean to pry—but everyone else is friendly with her. Is there like some underlying reason?"
Caelum leans in slightly, like he's trying to edge closer.
"Don't tell anyone, yeah? To put it simply," he says, "We have history. It's not the romantic kind; don't get the wrong idea, hehe."
His tone was almost rehearsed.
"Oh… Things didn't end well?" Isaac asked, feigning concern. A half-truth, half-lie.
"Although our personalities seem quite similar, she's way too extroverted for me."
Eliciting a response, Alyssa puffed her chest out and huffed in fake frustration.
"Ah, I see. My bad for bringing it up in front of you two."
"Don't be. It's fated."
This fucking guy… It's a word soaked in implication, especially with context. It's not the kind you would use casually. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but my suspicions definitely grow…
"Nah, but regardless… Either way, I wish you both the best of luck with the TRC. Real shit, I know you both are gonna do great. Especially you, Caelum. Zero doubt whatsoever, as the other 'Anomaly, ' you've got this, bro. And… who knows, man, I hope to get an outstanding TM too."
"..." Not a word spoken. "Sure, outstanding or nothing." An unchanging tone.
Caelum turns to Alyssa.
"Don't you agree?"
"Yeah, for sure." She groups the three of them one last time. "All the best, guys. Here's to our… growing friendship?"
Finally, a nod from him and Isaac before the three shook hands.
"To us."
And that settles it. I couldn't extract much from him, but that's to be expected. His intellect was unreadable after all… This version of Caelum is undoubtedly sharp.
But so bland… Like those tropes where the MC hides their true power behind a dull exterior.
I always thought those were cringe, not to get me started about this Clanker.
Still… The way he said 'Fated' with extra emphasis…
Is he a regressor?
Wild shot in the dark, but he could be. Given the context, if he really is the MC of this game, then he must have kept respawning and respawning every time the player base played like shit and died.
That could also be why he looks so depressed.
Regressor's Depression.
But if that is true, none of his actions make sense.
Isaac had heard the theory before he ever met Caelum— someone in an academy was always secretly a regressor, and always credited the gift for their own brilliance.
He began reflecting on the words read from the past.
A man who dies and returns with the ending memorized is a reciter, not a foresighter. Correct a mistake enough times, and it is no longer a skill. If Caelum carried that gift, the mannerisms in the duel made no sense. A regressor should skip jokes as he's already watched them lose.
The hesitation is a theater performed for an audience that does not know the ending yet. A story that lets death become a draft, struck and rewritten until something survives, treats consequence as a matter of taste.
It is fine for a manuscript.
But a person isn't paper.
Even those versions that have been constructed in order to appear well contain an element of cheating nonetheless. The rules are bent whenever it is necessary to generate new conflicts for the narrative to follow. Checkpoints that serve to shift the story's pacing are abandoned as soon as the protagonist ceases to need them, while suffering that has been designed to facilitate the lesson is transformed into a profitable experience the moment it has served its purpose. A memory that has been programmed to resurface only when convenient to the plot is a privilege the author has given to himself.
None of it was really about Caelum; Isaac was just thinking internally.
Autistic monkeys, I tell you.
More so about how consequence is wielded when someone has convinced themselves of its ability to be edited, and how often that conviction fails to withstand the weight of its cost to sustain itself.
I need to re-center on the real objective. A half-decent Mana Bu— Topological Matrix
Ew… Nvm.
I got so caught up in conversation that we completely missed the commotion over the emergence of a potential third ζ-Type: Hybrid in EINA's records.
Turaiya, no less.
Then again, that's expected from the Daughter of the God-King.
Thinking about it… That's a good evaluative point.
Even Alyssa pointed it out. I was too in my head to listen to her, but I'm sure she looked surprised seeing Turaiya's ζ-Type: Hybrid. If Caelum were a regular human, such an event should have also drawn his attention.
But he stayed focused on me all the time we talked.
He only glanced away ONCE, and it was in response to the above.
Hmmmm…
Well, nevertheless.
Sephalyn and the other nobles had secured themselves as Δ-Types, an outcome unsurprising given the scale of their talent. The majority of students emerging from the TRC were designated as π-Types, for the Institution's student body relied upon intellect above all else. As for the swordsmen, nearly all gravitated to the Σ-Type, as though it were predetermined.
Isaac pondered the decision of his Matrix. There was only Alyssa ahead of him, yet he still couldn't decide on this fact.
Power or precision?
I just hope I even meet the minimum requirement, seeing as my soul isn't from this world, if that affects it. If my κ Coherence Value clears 0.60, I'll at least have the option to choose.
Ideally, I'd like to hit above 0.75… But I know for certain I won't go past 0.95, so a ζ-Type is off the table.
Well... Only one way to find out.
He turned back to Caelum, who gave him a reaffirming nod.
And with a great step, ridding itself of a long-cherished dream.
Isaac entered the Thaumitonic Resonance Chamber.
Such was always the nature of the tests he had faced.