The Headmaster's gaze pinned Isaac like he was a specimen. His eyes, normally alight with amusement, were now cold and assessing.
"First of all, are you alright, young man? Safety and health of my students always come first before any suspicion I may have," he began, stepping closer. "You collapsed during dinner, and your eyes suffered a… 'Bilateral Globe Rupture'? My goodness, I'll ask the World Health Institute to add that as one of the possible injury diagnostics, just for you."
Hahaha very funn— FUCK YOU!
My eyes still fucking hurt, dude.
And fuck that 'World Health Organization' has changed to 'World Health Institute'.
Great…
"Thank you for your concerns, Headmaster. The pain in the form of a headache right now is unbearable, so I feel like I could pass out again, but I should be fine for the duration of our conversation."
"That's good to hear. Please try to stay safe, Isaac." With that, all forms of care and familiarity were dissipated, Orthellius returning to his usual tone. "Getting back on topic, Professor Azucena tells me your Thaumiton Channels underwent a spontaneous recalibration mid restoration process. An impossibility without external intervention."
A bead of sweat traced Isaac's spine.
"I—"
"Then," he continued, as if I hadn't spoken, "there's the matter of your eyes."
"Tha-"
"I'm aware you looked at Caelum Veldt before you fell, didn't you?" the Headmaster murmured. "You said he was special. What did you see in him?"
I should lie. But Orthellius isn't going to be fooled by poor half-truths.
Easy again.
Gamble.
I'll gamble my life as I always have.
"Let me ask you two questions, if you were to be so kind, Headmaster."
"Proceed."
"How did you manage to deduce that he lacked passion and motivation?"
"Because his expression when he submitted the Scholarship Form was completely blank. He talked as if there were no question or doubt in his mind that he would be accepted, but in the wrong way possible. And the tone, you've read books, right? Imagine someone talking only in lowercases with no bolds or italics whatsoever. That is Caelum Veldt's manner of speech."
That means he's definitely faking it.
"I see, thank you. Second. Why did you choose to admit Caelum Veldt? Judging by his appearance and status, he is in neither a financial, reputational, nor physical state to be admitted into the Institute."
"Similar to him are you not?"
"Extremely similar. Yes, but in that same vein. Could you have spotted a Genius in him as you did me?"
The Headmaster went very still. For a heartbeat, the only sound was the distant chime of the Institute's wards cycling.
"Interesting, you have quite the mouth, Isaac. To call yourself a Genius as well… How arrogant." He retorted.
"Yes, I admitted Caelum Veldt because I spotted an intellectual Genius in him. Mr. Veldt scored perfectly on his entrance exams with questions he improvised himself that shattered our understanding of current concepts of mathematics, science, and, let alone, philosophy. Out of the First Years admitted, none scored a near-perfect. In fact, none scored anything above 90%. Except him, a Genius by all metrics, scoring 99%. Purposely missing one crucial detail about humanity to purposely mock MY Institute by getting a 99% instead of 100%."
That could have been the reason he was admitted then. To contribute and alter views of not only scientific views as I have on Earth, but also mathematical and philosophical views?
What engineer designed a perfect clanker like him, where only humanity was left out?
"And let me take a shot in the dark, Headmaster. He scored less than 50% on the practical?"
The headmaster looked fairly stunned.
"And how did you come to that conclusion, Mr. Isaac?"
I just saw his stats.
"Rumors are spreading in my House, Sir. And a bit of logic as well. Not to assume, but since you mentioned that he had a 'lack of motivation', I assumed that he, as someone I know, is holding back, held back sufficiently to score a passing percent in addition to his 99% on the written."
"You're observant, Isaac."
No, I am NOT.
THAT DOESN'T FUCKING HELP MY CASE.
HOW DID HE SCORE MORE THAN ZERO ON THE PRACTICAL WITH NO MAGIC???
Headmaster Orthellius leaned in.
"You are much too observant for a first-year with no formal training. Almost as if..." His thumb brushed his temple
"You, like Caelum Veldt, are not the proclaimed Isaac Mun but rather an information bank taking the form of his likeness. You do not speak like the other students. You do not have the accent of any of the Kingdoms. You are skinny beyond belief in an abundantly nutritious world. You are book-learned but culturally illiterate, quoting principles while failing to know proverbs a child would know. You are restless in your own skin, watching hands and faces for cues."
A pause.
"Do not think I do not notice the subtleties in our first interaction. I know you flinched when I said specific words. Do NOT make a fool of me, Isaac. Your eyes have never left mine for the past 7.5 minutes of our conversation. What kind of First Year has the audacity to stare into my eyes without ever being distracted?"
Oh shit…
"Forced habit, sorry, Headmaster."
A blatant lie to defend my ego.
FUCK… What am I doing…
This motherfucker could be Sherlock Holmes. I'm sure there are reincarnation stories here, right? If he's literate, then he could probably assume I'm a transmigrator… How would he treat me after he figured that out?
I'm fucked… Wouldn't I be?
Still though… How dare you accuse me of being the robot when Caelum the Clanker looks more like one?!
The silence that followed was heavier than any weighed verdict. The Headmaster withdrew, his expression unreadable.
"You must be mistaken, Headmaster. I am who I claim to be."
"Is that true? Prove it."
"Simple. I doubt, therefore I think. I think, therefore I am."
Bullshit, but it works every time on Earth.
"Well said. But irrelevant."
Shit, he's literate.
The Headmaster sighs.
"Doctor, could you bring in the item I requested?"
A fine lady enters the room.
The head of the Alchemists and lead pioneer of Catalyxical Engineered Creations in the Elenos Kingdom.
Doctor Chessie Harrington.
"At your service, Orthellius."
A matte-black case mounted on a steel cart with wires coiled, electrodes neatly bundled beside a console lined with blinking lights and dials, followed her into the room.
My dissenting judge.
A polygraph that had been made much more efficient with all the technological improvements of this world.
Why the fuck would a school keep a polygraph on campus?
Weirdo.
He turns his attention back to Isaac. What started as a conversation now become an interrogation.
"Now, Mr. Mun, I'd like you to follow the specific instructions given by Doctor Harrington so that you may prove your innocence. I'm going to use my authority and power to bypass any form of responsibility your guardians have to stop this. Because I need to know Isaac. Just how much do you really know? "
Fucker…
"As you wish, Headmaster."
.
.
.
Isaac sits on the chair where two rubber tubes are wrapped snugly around his chest and abdomen. Small metal sensors coated with conductive gel are fastened to his fingers with a blood pressure cuff secured around his upper arm. Finally, a motion pad is placed under the chair.
"Now, Isaac. I want you to answer us just 5 questions. Can you do that?"
"As long as they do not breach into personal discomfort. Alright, Headmaster."
"I cannot promise that. Let's begin," Orthellius nodded at The Doctor.
"Question 1: Are you from these kingdoms?"
"No."
Dr. Harrington nods.
He said 'these'… That's vague… If he interprets 'these kingdoms' as 'The World'...
I already fucked up… Shit.
"Question 2: Is your knowledge of Noësis vast, both theoretically and practically?"
"Yes."
Another nod
Straightforward. Fine.
"Question 3: How much do you know about the future?"
"Little."
The first shake of Dr. Harrington's head.
"Yeah… A fair bit."
A nod.
Tsk… I suck at controlling my vitals, huh?
Dammit…
"Hmmm. Question 4: Are you truly, Isaac Mun?"
Fuck… Try your best, Isaac Mun…
"I am."
Thankfully, a nod.
The Headmaster exhales and asks the final question.
"Lastly, do you know about my fate? How my life ends?"
"I don't…"
Please.
.
.
.
A longer silence than usual.
Before a nod
Yes!
.
.
.
"That settles it. Thank you, Isaac."
"You're welcome."
"Thank you, too, Harrington. You're dismissed."
The humble doctor bows and leaves the room with the polygraph.
"I won't pry, Isaac. I am still highly, HIGHLY, suspicious of you. But, so long as you use that knowledge of the future for the betterment of this Kingdom. I do wish you all the best."
The headmaster left without allowing Isaac to bid him farewell. But his eyes were glistening, almost with tears.
…
A long sigh releases itself from his lungs, louder than he intended.
Hah… My heart rate is shooting up.
If I did anything wrong there, then it would be wraps.
I would be sent straight to death's void again…
The air stays in his chest. The world stays solid.
And for the first time since he woke up in this nightmare, Isaac finally lets his shoulders drop.
Yet, puzzled as ever.
How the fuck did the polygraph give a false reading on the last two questions perfectly?
I don't fuckin know, if it's the work of that higher entity, then I probably played right into its hands again.
So be it… I can breathe, and I can focus on myself:
"Temporal Anchor, Self-Statistics"
Name: Isaac Mun
Class: Anomalous Entity
Title: "Eulogist of Every Truth", "Audience? of the Acts", "Adept of the Howling Void", "Mass Reader"
Age: 17 (Biological Age). 19 (Mental Age)
Stats:
- Strength: 1-Star
- Vitality: 3-Star
- Agility: 3-Star
- Intellect: 5-Star
- Stamina: 100%
Attributes:
Temporal Anchor (Version 2): A true reminder that you're an outsider. After encountering the nexus, you have been granted the authority to 'perceive' into the baseline of this world. Temporarily, you are given two enhancements:
- Mimicry #1 (Buff): Due to your jealousy of a certain character, your worldview is slowed by 15%
- Mimicry #2 (Buff): Due to your jealousy of a certain character, your memory has been enhanced to an Eidetic state.
- Mimicry #3 (Buff): Due to your jealousy of a certain character, your body is capable of attuning/creating one derived or unique Element of your own earlier than most. Its efficiency and efficacy will be that of, if not higher than, a Royal Derivative.
With sufficient acceptance, you may see more…
Hollow Frame (Curable Debuff): While the mind is expansive, the body is a hollow joke—merely a shell incapable of expressing full potential in the material plane.
Media Literacy (Perpetual Passive): A product of narcissistic reading comprehension. An abrupt and uncanny faculty that renders narrative structure perceptible to you as if it were a physical memory—you apprehend Introductions, Catharses, Complexity, Culminations, Depth, Developments, Dynamics, Ideologies, Internal Conflicts, Main Themes, Philosophies, and Symbolisms with the same immediacy as one reads a sentence, be it aspects of a story or characters themselves.
Element Affinity:
Wind (Main Element): 2-Star
Mana Remaining: 300/300 MP
Oh… Literally Cogito Ergo Sum.
Yay, my name updated itself.
Probably because somewhere between dying twice and climbing my way back, I stopped pretending this frail vessel belonged to someone else.
But it doesn't matter.
Temporal Anchor (Version 2)...The old function of TAV1 of perceiving inhabitantswas quite the hack. It's unfortunate that it was replaced cuz I would have 100% made full use of it by analyzing anyone's stats.
But hey~
This new variant?
So… SO! MUCH! BETTER!
YES!
Temporal Anchor Version 2 was not just seeing stats in the perspective of the player but rather understanding the people behind the stats as the world itself does, as fundamental as the coding of the world, or perhaps, for now, the on and off states of the world.
For him to progress, the upgrade requirement.
Sufficient acceptance.
"PFFT!"
A laugh rises in Isaac's throat.
Of all things, empathy? Not Mana density or Magical skill. Hell! Not even me getting sent to some dungeon that needs to be cleared? How absurd, an attribute that reminds me of my alienness but requires me to accept it?
Well, doesn't even matter.
What does even 'perceiving' into the baseline of the world even mean?
I'll just…
"Temporal Anchor. Activate."
Nothing occurs.
?
Oh!
"Temporal Anchor V2: Activate."
A familiar sting pricks behind his eyes as the world falls and unfolds. Against all the pain from the reconstruction of his eyes. He blatantly ignored the potential harm that could be done in favour of reality dissolving into a tide of 1's and 0's.
His worldview was a churning digital undercurrent beneath the illusion. The walls and floor all reduced to raw, pulsing code, flickering like unstable voltage, literally. Neon-green lattices slice the repository into jagged segments, overlaying the room with a structure that exists, only in his worldview, reality's code laid naked in front of Isaac.
The world is debugged.
One.
Time itself seems to drag, as if the universe has dipped into molasses. The night breeze, tousling the leaves, moves with slight lethargy. Isaac's own breath stretches, inhales lingering like held piano notes, exhales unwinding slowly.
It's actually a bit offensive that whatever giving this to me was because I was jealous of the heroines… Hey~ I ain't complaining tho~ My cognition has sped up, not as fast as Sephalyn's, but does it matter?
An hour for the world is an hour and nine minutes for me. I got an extra 0.15 seconds in a single second before life and death. It's not a reliable ability like Sephalyn's. But it's just enough to draw the difference.
I like that, yk?
Modesty.
Two.
A flood.
Memories surge through Isaac's mind as a continuous stream of sounds and sights assaults his every sense. The polygraph interrogation replays itself, the Headmaster's gaze, his questions, all replayed, but imperfect. His working memory model fractures.
The visuospatial sketchpad, the phonological loop, and the episodic buffer blend together. In a way, treating Isaac's mind like a computer that processes data.
It's not Turaiya's photographic memory, but I have eidetic memory.
That's great!
Isaac reconstructs memories, whereas Elenos' Heir remembers with perfect accuracy. To him, the colors and voices are approximated based on his perception.
To her, it just is.
That is the talent given to the God King's Daughter.
Lastly, third.
Simple enough, my body should be sufficient to attune… Or actually… What this world calls resonates/archetypes, a new Element or even my own unique one, earlier than every other in the story.
Hell… Maybe I can get some bullshit Quantum Element or Entropy Element to be OP!
Fuck nah… Cringe… I deadass would die if I even tried anything above, like what? Light or Dark elements, if they even exist here. Maybe I could just be a bum and copy the element that caused that Stygian Surge.
I can be cool and edgy using dark fire— Yeah nevermind again… Cringe.
I do understand now… I see… Literally.
Temporal Anchor (Version 2) preserves and dignifies me. But at the same time, it acts as a constant reminder that I don't belong here. So much so that it forces me to feel like the heroines made in China, a cheap copy of the Heroines' attributes.
…
Eh, who gives a shit?
Imperfect or not, it's so fucking useful.
If I can gain a half-decent Mana Build 3 days later, then paired with Temporal Anchor, I should be fine.
Gratitude is a strange feeling when one is dying, trapped inside a foreign world that is considered a fictional game. Isaac felt it. He would take anything that gave him the advantage over the rest. Though one worry seeded itself in the back of his brain.
Hmm… It just would be annoying if this ability evolved beyond binary… I'm barely reading the world through 1's and 0's lens, let alone needing to see everything in C++ or Python Code… Imagine how funny it would be if Temporal Anchor Version 2.1 or something changed everything from binary to machine code and so on, so forth.
Wait… Shit… I don't wanna jinx myself.
"Temporal Anchor V2: Deactivate."
He stretched, still tired and annoyed at the pain.
Tomorrow is orientation day, the first real step into this Institute.
But more importantly, my first step into this New EAA's narrative. At this rate, the original story is so fucked I can ditch the entire trope of me not stepping into the story and just relax in my childhood game.
My curiosity will kill me one day, though… I still gotta figure out all the changes and the true nature of this world.
Plus, depending on the situation at the end…I wanna go home.
Would it be weird if I rose from my coffin, though? Hmmm… What would the logistics of a dead person coming back to life be like? Well… I'll concern myself with that shit if I do go home.
All I really wanna do rn is to jump on my dorm bed.
Before he leaves, Isaac spots a box with a 5-digit combination lock that was left open, contents spilled out during the rush of procedures when Isaac's eyes detonated.
Hmm… It's not some super OP item that only I know about due to my knowledge of the future… But, I just kinda wanna…take it… It's super useful to have a damn private storage space.
Hmm… Fuck it…
Box in hand, Isaac hastily makes his way back towards the House of Esyphyr dormitory. He reaches his room and jumps on the bed WITH a front flip and WITHOUT the care to change out of his uniform.
Today, I rest. Tomorrow I test.
And he snored loudly.
"ZzzZZZzzzzzzZ."