"Time for some reconnaissance and hunting monitor devices."
John woke up early the next day and decided he would start organising his sleep better from now on. It was still seven in the morning, so he had more than enough time before today's class at ten sharp.
Having nothing to do, he decided to go out, take a stroll around and check the department. By habit, he decided to use his Frame Recognition ability, and once he was in the corridor, he spotted something abnormal.
The corridor was formed of the same green coding structure as the entire world. He began to get used to it. Yet in the middle of all this, and before he would take a few steps away from his door, he spotted it.
There was a cluster of brightly shining green codes that were on the ceiling. John was surprised to see such a thing and drew closer. Before he could extend a hand to try to touch it, a series of notifications popped up in front of his eyes, totally freezing his body.
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[Ding! Caution! A monitoring device has been detected - Initial Analysis: Audio and Video recording active. Range: Immediate vicinity - Attempt to hack/spoof: Failure!]
[Ding! You gained 1 Mental Point cap for the discovery!]
-
Seeing this unexpected discovery made him realise something: the students were closely watched. Realising this, he decided to spend the time he had before class to check over the places of these devices.
Before taking a single step away, he returned to his dorm and ran a thorough check. There he found a monitoring device, one that followed the student's motion only. It was inside the room dedicated to welcoming other students, telling him it was meant to follow students' activities inside their dorms.
He didn't like it, so he shut down that room and vowed not to use it at all. He double checked the dorm again, found nothing, then headed out.
He received the notification about finding monitor devices three times as he made his way down the hall. The place was a sensory minefield. By the time he reached the grand staircase, he felt like he was walking through a spiderweb of invisible eyes.
To his right, a wide balcony overlooked the academy grounds. John stepped out, leaning against the railing to catch his breath. Below him, a magnificent garden stretched for miles, filled with plants and small water streams. It was breathtakingly beautiful until he used his ability again.
Through the Frame Recognition, the beauty dissolved into a green code-structured forest. However, he noticed something new: at a certain distance, the green code began to fray. The further his gaze travelled toward the horizon, the more the lines became a chaotic mess.
From the outside, the Military Department appeared to be a cluster of seven distinct, imposing buildings. But as John began his walkthrough, his Frame Recognition revealed a different story: the structures were all interconnected, forming a massive, unified maze of codes.
He bypassed the training halls and the dorms, passing through the administrative wing.
As he maintained his ability for half an hour, he began to take rigorous mental notes on the shortcomings of his basic ability.
'Distance matters,' he realised. 'In an open field, I can see up to twenty meters without a drop in clarity. But the moment I try to peer into a building or through walls, the range drops to five, maybe ten meters at most.'
It was a significant limitation. When he looked out toward the open plaza and the sprawling gardens, he could see perfectly fine for twenty metres or so. Then the codes would mingle together like a mess.
But when scanning the walls, the code structure became a blurry, opaque mess if he stood too far back. However, the ability had one saving grace: it could penetrate matter. He could see the interior structure of rooms without the need to get inside.
'If I can upgrade this one day to see for a hundred meters through solid structures, I'll be the greatest spy in history,' he joked to himself, pausing in front of a specific alcove.
'Another monitor device spotted. Noted.' He kept a running tally of the surveillance net. To his surprise, once he left the dormitory building, the density of these devices plummeted.
In the administrative building, he had walked for five full minutes before hitting his first sensor. Noticing this inspired him.
'If the security measures here aren't that strict, then if I can find a way to infiltrate the offices at night, I can find the files about Ricky and that girl...'
He knew academies back on Earth would keep detailed files about their students. Yet there were lots of obstacles to this idea. Even this early in the morning, he spotted many teachers inside their offices. On top of that, he couldn't roam it at night as it was forbidden to roam the academy at night.
'And I can't simply barge my way through any office and leave behind a scene. They'll investigate and can easily link it to me...' He thought before he started to think about this problem from a different angle.
'I have the Shell and Frame Recognition abilities. I can see the world in code structure, won't I be able to hack my way through any office then? Extract the data I need without actually breaking in?'
He entertained the thought, yet he knew these were just mere dreams. There wasn't a way he had found so far to use his hacking abilities in this world yet.
He turned his attention toward a different direction, walking to the edge of the third-level walkway that overlooked the grand plaza. He leaned against the railing, his eyes scanning the crowd below.
That was when he saw her!
Emerging from a nearby dorm building, a girl with long brown hair was moving with hurried strides. Her hair bounced against her back, a motion that caught the early morning light.
"It's her!" his eyes shone. He immediately ditched his curiosity to map out the monitor devices of the entire department and took the stairs two at a time, heading toward the garden.
By the time he pushed through the thick outer layer of trees that shielded the garden, he found himself in a spacious, lush area. Few students were scattered everywhere, even this early in the morning. They were reading on benches, training, or chatting by the shallow streams, but none of them had that wild, unstyled brown hair.
"Where did she go?"
He spent ten minutes weaving through the labyrinthine paths, checking behind statues and inside gazebos. He found nothing. She had vanished as if she had never existed.
"This girl... I'm sure something big is hiding behind her," he muttered to himself, feeling a surge of frustration, his curiosity growing to no end. He checked the time and realised he needed to head back to class before the teacher decided to make an example of him if he arrived there late.
But before he could take a single step toward the exit, a flash of brown blurred past the edge of his vision. A sharp hiss of wind followed, and before he could even react, a figure was standing mere inches from him, head-to-head, eyes locked onto his.
"It's you..."
John's eyes brightened up. It was her. He hadn't found her; she had found him. And she wasn't interested in a friendly introduction. She took a sharp step forward, invading his personal space, and jabbed a firm, accusing finger directly into his chest.
"Stay the hell away from me," she hissed, her voice low and dangerous. "This is your first and final warning. Got it?!"
Before he could even open his mouth to respond, she spun on her heel and disappeared into the foliage, moving with a speed and silence that defied logic.
"I swear, she is hiding a massive secret," John whispered, completely unbothered by the threat. He wasn't thinking about the danger; he was thinking about something else. He hadn't felt her approach. He hadn't spotted her till she made her move.
She must have been nearby the entire time, watching him look for her. 'She either has some sort of cloaking ability, or she is a professional spy,' he thought, a thrill of excitement running through him, as he grew far more eager to uncover her secrets.