On the 16th of September 2024, 11:45 AM, the NCAT for matriculating Cohort 2409 drew to a close. Every First-Year Student was branded with their Classification rating as the last evaluations concluded. They herded back toward the grand auditorium, where the headmaster would deliver his final, grandiose speech.
Isaac, unfortunately, had to deal with Student No. 136.
"Hi, Isaac!"
Damn, is she persistent…
"Yo. Alyssa."
"How did you do? I heard from my Wave Binder friends that you displayed a QCD Charge Doublet that violated the Laws of Nature? That's crazy. No. Like genuinely. That's crazy. How did you do it?"
I KNEW IT!
QCD CHARGE DOUBLET?!
As in, Quantum Chromodynamic Charge Doublet?!
I thought my tempo was quite off.
So I WAS hearing right!
Within his thoughts, Isaac lingered in full focus on his failure to obtain a Star Upgrade. However, there was often when words that hit home hard were uttered. Ones that his mind subconsciously couldn't filter out. Ones that shouldn't have ever been uttered in this world, let alone by the individuals around him.
Of course, I dismissed it.
No fucking way these 16-17-year-olds know Undergraduate 2nd to 3rd Year Level Quantum Mechanics. Even if this world is smarter than Earth, there is no CHANCE young adults in college know what, first, is the Standard Model of Particle Physics and, second, what the fuck a doublet quantum state is!
HELL!
I haven't even seen them use a phone! How the fuck did they search Wikipedia for it?!
Alyssa stared, embarrassed, waiting for a response.
Don't fucking look at me?! Why are you saying I'm violating the Laws of Nature?
What's so wrong about my Zone color NOT being green?
"U-uhm… Yea… I really don't even know how I did it, haha."
"No way! You're lying to me, aren't you? Don't lie like that! What are your actual Resonance Archetypes?"
"Wind only. I swear on my soul that I don't know how it happened."
"Hmm… Okay… Sure thing, Isaac… No, cuz like why you feeling so sketchy and distant, y'know?"
"Fair. Sure. Call me whatever you want, Alyssa. I'll play into that for a bit, if you don't mind?"
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean, Isaac? If you do anything sus, I'll fold your ahh."
"Dude… Of course not. I ain't no bloody creep. All I want is just one question."
"Hm… Go ahead."
"Thanks. What is a Lie Group? Specifically, what is the SU(2) Group?"
"..."
"..."
"Pfft! Seriously, Isaac? You could have asked other questions, be serious, and you chose to ask me math and science?" Alyssa turns to face the confused boy. "Were you raised alone? Is this how you flirt with other girls~ Isaac?"
"Mf… Yes, and ew, no. What do you genuinely take me for? All I wanna do is test the Genius of Concordance. Or… Was the question too hard, bro?"
"O-oh… Sorry… Didn't mean to pry."
"Don't bother. Just answer me."
"Well, first… Since you're calling me bro, I assume I can call you dude?"
"Yeah, grass is green, girl, go ahead."
"Then… Dude… Who do YOU take me for? A high schooler? Boy, I know you didn't just think I'm dumb cuz I look like a sociable person like me for?"
Yea… You're in college at the age of 17. Go back to high school.
But… It's concerning that she's implying this is a question for high schoolers…
"So… Can you answer it?"
"Of course! Bro, just watch. Off the top of my head, a Lie Group is a manifold that is similar enough to a vector space that we can apply calculus to, where the group takes inverse and multiplication as differentiable. As for what the group SU(2) is. The set of all 2×2 complex matrices with determinant 1 that are unitary forms a continuous symmetry group with three independent parameters, and their algebra is generated by the Pali matrices. Physically, SU(2) describes spin-½ systems and any system with two quantum states that transform like a doublet under rotations in an abstract internal space. See? Easy?"
Wah~ Holy yap~ So you DO know Quantum Mechanics (QM) and Group Theory!
I only learned this shit in my 3RD AND 4TH YEARS of university!
How the FUCK do you know abstract algebra II and QM II?!
What the fuck are these college students being fed?
How?
If everyone keeps yapping about QCD Charge Doublet, that means I can assume everyone knows QM and Group Theory at a bare minimum, like Alyssa.
Why would they need QM Principles in college?
Unless…
Quantum Mechanics is apart of their regular physics syllabus? Or perhaps, a part of Magic?
"Damn~ No wonder everyone glazes you, Alyssa."
"Oh, please… As if you couldn't explain the same, Isaac. You've learnt this right? No way you haven't."
"True. But I probably learned it much later than you, though."
"Oh? I learned it when I was about… 14-15, I think?"
"For real? Wow… I only learned this last year, dude."
Yeah? When I was 21 YEARS OLD! You learned this at FIFTEEN years old?
Both students laughed softly; however, one of them was merely feigning amusement.
Alyssa then posed her own question.
"Back on topic, Isaac. What Classification did you receive?"
"Apprentice-Class. You?"
"Quite above the average. Congrats, dude! Me, though? Top of Adept-Class! No joke. Can you believe it?!"
Yeah, no shit I can. I get you're a super smart and talented Scientist, Madam Mary. Go raise your damn Spirits.
"Damn~ Okay. Congrats, Alyssa!"
"Thank you! Hey, you too, Isaac! I gotta dip now, but let's chat another time, okay? Maybe we can get lunch or dinner one day? You and me. I want to get to know and understand more of you, Isaac."
"Bet. See you!"
Alyssa ran off forward to rejoin her main friend group.
Anything to get rid of her… My fucking goodness… I need some alone time.
First, her slang. It's too fucking generic white girl slang, suggesting that some form of African American Vernacular English has existed in this world. So much so that Alyssa talks like shes brainrotted.
Second… I guess bro…
I mean… It makes sense, seeing that the passport was improved using principles of QM, suggesting a higher level of QM understanding, but that SHOULD be by adults, NOT college students.
The increase in difficulty of the syllabus due to the Flynn Effect and Jerome Bruner's Spiral Curriculum is a given… But does that warrant the teaching of uni material in EINA? Graham's School of Catalysis would integrate QM into its syllabus because it is the peak of engineering education.
But EINA as well?
I mean… Sure, again, that it is prestigious. But that means every student, like Alyssa, had finished college-level to undergraduate year 1 to 2 level physics BEFORE even entering EINA.
Son… Oh my days~
I can't figure out why; the only explanation is heightened intelligence as a whole.
Fuck man! I should have read my textbooks the moment I bought them.
If I go further, now that it seems so much precedent is put on science.
What would an Anomaly to Natural Laws be to them?
A fucking monster, of course!
So I am 100% sure that I'm gonna have a target on my head for data collection, let alone from the students, but from Headmaster Orthellius as well. I'm sure he's heard of the rumors, and I'm sure he's even more curious about my nature after that Dining Hall debacle.
Let alone the three gazes I noted as I was speaking with Alyssa.
Tsk shit, I should have acted more chill…
He touched the beads of sweat on his forehead, sweat that illogically could suggest he was nervous rather than it being just a hot day. Illogical actions that could very well set off a chain reaction of the wrong formula, giving the right answer.
A massive blunder on my end.
The auditorium loomed before Isaac. He entered and found his original seat before collapsing into it like a sack of potatoes. He was exhausted from all the mental strain that his nerves were suffering from his eyes exploding, lashed by the new variables that kept coming his way.
Okay… Calm down first, Isaac… get some rest firs—
Which he absolutely could not.
"Bro~ How did you do on the NCAT?"
Oh my gooooood~ T-T
"I did fine. Got Apprentice-Class. And seriously? Bro, Ms. Idris?"
A soft laugh as she takes her seat next to Isaac.
"Hehe. Yes, bro~ Congrats on that. I did quite well myself as well, wanna know?"
"Sure. What Classification did you get?"
"Novice-Class. I know. I know. Super good for a Catalyxi, right?"
"Oh? Congrats to you too."
Impressive~ Every female I meet in this world is leaving significantly more of an impact than the males. You go, girls… If you do more, I can benefit from your hard work more… Hell… Maybe even Idris is on the same level of knowledge as Alyssa in mathematics and science…
But, just to test something…
"Parents are gonna be proud, yeah?" Isaac added, holding back a giggle.
Her expression instantly falls.
"Ah… Yeah, they should be. I'm one of the tops in Adept-Class as well…"
My ass.
Tragic, though my chance to make a good ally.
"Hey, dude. You did better than most, so who the hell gives a shit, dude."
With such a meager response, Zehdrah Idris' expression lit up once again, as if she were waiting for someone to tell her that.
Nice… Potential No.1 Alchemist in the world secured as a frau— friend.
"Yeah... Thank you, Isaac. You did great on your NCAT as well. I heard, as well, that you displayed a QCD Charge Doublet that defied the Law of Na一."
Yo… I get it for FUCK sake!
"Haha… Yeah… News really does spread fast, right?"
"How did you do it? It's extremely creepy that a random student just shattered almost 450 years of study."
…
"S-sorry?"
"Yeah! How did you do it, bro? You mean to tell me that you don't even know how you're literally breaking history and scienc—"
"No… No… Sorry? How long has Quantum Mechanics been around?"
"Oh? My mistake… It's technically 453 years of study if you're into the specifics like some nerds. Hehehe~ Are you THAT much of a nerd, Isaac?"
"I guess you could say that, haha."
…
453 Years of Quantum Studies…
What a joke...
Quantum Mechanics started with Max Planck's discoveries in December of 1900, and was only solidified into a separate field of Physics in 1920 by the likes of Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrödinger… I will know this story with 100% certainty regardless of any bodyswapping transmigrations.
So…
Who the hell invented the concept in 1572?
WHO made a THREE-HUNDRED-FORTY-EIGHT-year gap in studies?
Tsk… give me a damn break for fuck sake.
Zehrah Idris stared at Isaac, expecting a return from the boy who kept staring at the ceiling. The light highlighted his tears that began to form due to a culmination of all the unprecedented roadblocks in his path.
It was the first instance where Isaac, having considered every fact laid bare before him, understood the cruel absurdity of his resistance, if it could even be called that. That no matter how fiercely he was struggling currently, he was still moving along a path that may have been written long before his birth by Mrs Fate.
He had begun seeding the philosophy of Fatalistic Absurdism deep within his subconscious, for better or for worse.
In fact, he would have bawled his eyes out if it were not for Headmaster Orthellius stare. He was the first thing that the Headmaster was looking at as the he rose to the stage.
Isaac Mun…