After an indefinite amount of time had passed, Tsukuru felt a hand on his shoulder shaking him.
"Hey, Tsukuru!" The voice, which belonged to Logan, replied. "Wake up, we're here!" Tsukuru groaned, as he opened his eyes. As he looked around, he saw several other students wake up as well. They were all currently standing on a green field that none of them seemed to recognize.
"Welcome to Military Base 2!" Sergeant Krow announced from in front of them. "This is where the lot of you will spend the next two years of your life!" He explained. As the students all looked ahead, they saw three huge, futuristic-looking buildings directly in front of them. In addition to the buildings, there were also huge statues at least sixty feet in height, sculpted entirely out of glass.
The students all stood on an elevated platform that overlooked a city. The people in the city below all were dressed in military clothing. They watched all around them as the place was filled with technological marvels. It was technology that seemed far more advanced than the rest of the world. However, to Tsukuru and Logan, this was commonplace.
As members of the Green Family, they saw things like this on a regular basis. Tsukuru looked down at his wrist, and saw that a new wristwatch had been placed on it. However, the screen was black.
"This is your lifeline." Sergeant Krow explained. "It will identify you as a student at the base, will allow you to access certain areas, pay for food, and all sorts of things. When not in use, these watches will display your corresponding Ability Level." Sergeant Krow looked from student to student.
"We will immediately begin testing your respective Ability Levels. Remain in this area until your name is called. Good luck!" As Tsukuru looked around, he noticed in his vision that, just like with Logan, his System's vector would appear over a person's head, and lead to a square that showed a close-up photo of them. Underneath, it would display their name, race, Ability, and Ability Level. But as Tsukuru looked around, he noticed that far off in his vision, there was a strange, glowing, hexagonal, double-terminated, light-blue crystal.
The crystal remained in place, spinning nonstop. However, the strangest part was, the circle was hovering over something. Or to be more specific, a student.
'That must be him.' Tsukuru thought. 'He must be the other System user.' Tsukuru took a step forward, only for someone to grab his arm. Looking back, he saw Logan looking at him.
"And just where are you going?" He asked, eyebrow raised.
"I have to go check something." Tsukuru replied, breaking Logan's grip. He pointed to his head as he walked away, symbolizing to Logan that it had something to do with his System. Tsukuru weaved through the crowd, passing from student to student. As he moved, the boy with the crystal over his head came into focus.
He had black, curly hair. And he was standing next to a blonde boy with an impressive physique and a brown-haired boy in glasses. As he reached them, he heard the blonde boy and the boy with curly black hair talking.
"The name's Vorden, by the way." The blonde boy, now identified as Vorden, replied. He held his hand out for Quinn to shake. The black-haired boy looked down at the hand for a moment, before shaking it.
"My name's Quinn." As Tsukuru looked at the two, the same System vector appeared over them. However, something strange happened when he looked at Vorden. Vorden didn't have one image with text below it. He had three.
One line extending from the left, one extending slightly lower on the right, and a final one coming out from the top. The image on the left showed Vorden's glowing smile. The text read:
[Name: Vorden Blade
Race: Human
Ability: Copy
Ability Capacity: 1]
The image on the right had the same face as Vorden, but it was twisted into an aggressive, confrontational expression, as if the boy was perpetually looking for a fight. The text read:
[Name: Raten Blade
Race: Human
Ability: Copy
Ability Capacity: 2]
The final image, the one at the top of Tsukuru's vision, was a side-profile. It looked as if the boy was cradled in a fetal position, a look of depression on his face. The text read:
[Name: Sil Blade
Race: Human
Ability: Copy
Ability Capacity: 3]
Tsukuru raised an eyebrow in confusion. 'Three minds in one body? Multiple personalities maybe?' He thought, trying to think of an explanation. 'But then, why are the strengths of their Abilities different?' He thought.
'And what is this 'Copy' Ability? Why does it display 'Ability Capacity' instead of 'Ability LEVEL'?' Tsukuru changed his focus to the boy with black, curly hair. Like he thought, HE was the boy with the crystal hovering over his head, designating HIM as the other "System User". The vector appeared over him, and the regular information was shown, leading Tsukuru to think that Vorden was simply an anomaly.
[Name: Quinn Talen
Race: Human*
Ability: None]
Tsukuru raised an eyebrow at the asterisk after Quinn's race. Did this mean he was something more than human? He looked perfectly average to Tsukuru. In fact, less than average. Hell, he bet that even Logan could beat him up. And Logan was the physically weakest person he knew.
Well, right after him before getting his System. However, the closer Tsukuru got to Quinn, the more something else came into view. If Tsukuru didn't know any better, he would have sworn that it was a System screen. Then, Tsukuru remembered that Quinn also had a System, and realized that was exactly what it was. As Tsukuru approached them, the words on the screen came into view.
[Use of an Ability has been detected. The Ability has been blocked.]
The message appeared once more, repeating itself, before Quinn pulled his hand away. Vorden looked down at him, puzzled. After a minute, he spoke.
"What is your Ability?" Vorden asked.
"I…" Quinn paused. "I don't have an Ability." Tsukuru took that moment to step forward.
"Hey!" Tsukuru called, walking forward and catching both boys's attention. "Is this a private party or can anybody join?" He asked. Vorden beamed as Tsukuru reached them.
"Of course not!" He replied in a happy tone. "The more the merrier! Name's Vorden! What about you?" He asked, holding out his hand. Tsukuru smirked, and shook his hand.
"Tsukuru." Tsukuru answered. "Hikiko Tsukuru." Like with Quinn, a System message appeared in front of Tsukuru. But it was a System message he had seen before. It appeared whenever Logan tried accessing the System.
[An Ability is attempting to access the System. Would you like to block the attempt?
[Yes] [No] ]
Smiling, Tsukuru thought 'yes' . Like with Quinn, Vorden grew a puzzled expression. Tsukuru curled his finger, motioning him to come closer. As Vorden kneeled down to the small boy's level, Tsukuru whispered into his ear.
"It's common courtesy to ask for permission first if you want to copy somebody's Ability." Vorden's eyes widened. While Vorden stood there, stunned on how Tsukuru knew his Ability, Tsukuru walked over to Quinn. "What about you?" He asked, reaching out his hand for a shake. "My name's Tsukuru. What about you?"
Quinn stared at Tsukuru's hand, a little wary after the System message from shaking Vorden's hand. Eventually, he agreed to it.
"My name's Quinn." He replied, shaking Tsukuru's hand. As they did, a new System message appeared before them both.
[A new System User has been detected.]
Quinn's eyes widened in shock. He looked at Tsukuru, who merely smiled. Tsukuru brought a finger up to his mouth in a "shush" motion. Unbeknownst to Quinn, an additional System screen had appeared before Tsukuru.
[Quest Complete
You have successfully made contact with the user of System Model 1.0.0.
You have received the following rewards:
You have gained 50 XP. XP: 60/100.
You have received 1 Stat Point for each Stat.
Strength: 11. Stamina: 11. Agility: 11.]
Tsukuru broke contact with Quinn to look ahead. He saw a military official running up to the two figures at the top of the elevated platform, a man in a hood and a woman with a tablet. Something was up. He watched as the military official, clearly of a lower rank, if how frantically he had come running up to them, and how skittish he seemed to be around them, was anything to go by. He whispered something into the ear of the woman with the tablet.
She let out a long, exasperated sigh, before turning to the would-be students.
"Listen up, due to a…paperwork error, we have an odd number of students." She explained, putting an irritated emphasis on the words "paperwork error". "Due to this, the next group will consist of six students, instead of five." She looked down at her tablet. "Peter Chuck, Quinn Talen, Layla Munrow, Erin Heyley, Vorden Blade, and…" She stopped mid-sentence and stared at the next name on her tablet, eyes widened. She let out an audible shudder. "...Hikiko Tsukuru! Come up to the front to take your test!"