The latter half of the dinner was filled with discussions of plans for the future. Most stuff Isaac could reasonably foresee. He did the dishes, and Aveline cleaned up the table. They wished their parents goodnight. Both parents returned to their bedroom, and finally the two children to hers.
The main issue was Isaac himself. Not because of anything superficial like gender or personality. No. Isaac had not cleaned himself upon entering this world. As such, one can only imagine how foul a scent he had acquired.
"Just sayin… You should go take a bath."
"Ah shit. Right. Is there only one bathroom?"
"Yes. We'll be sharing. Go ahead and use any of my bath products, but just stay away from the private items."
"Got it."
The bathroom was unadorned, yet practical in a way that contradicted everything Isaac remembered. The porcelain sink bore a self-cleaning mechanism that shed water in a proper laminar flow, highly contradictory to the original vibe of EAA.
The toilet adjusted its seat tension automatically when touched, never loose, never cold.
No gold-leafed mirrors, no enchanted steam rooms like the dramatised fantasies of classical isekais. For no particular reason, there are merely the bare essentials, made efficient by technologies.
These amenities for a washroom are way too advanced for a fantasy world… I can see from the corner of my eye a damn electric toothbrush…
Isaac lifted his gaze to the mirror.
Hoh? This boy, though. He has quite the face for someone this skinny.
The reflection revealed the boy whose body he now inhabited.
Approximately five feet ten inches. Wavy, nose-length brown hair, and eyes of such dark blue they might be mistaken for black.
Most notably.
A scar cut just beneath his right eye.
Cool. Cool.
His frame was frail, his skin nearly hairless yet roughened, likely the result of rigorous training, but by all conventional measures, he was slightly above average, by no means strikingly handsome.
If I put on some muscle, then everything should work well in terms of looks and romance. Except the mental age gap, of course… How the fuck am I gonna date someone my age…
Wait a minute… I'll just go for older.
Hehehe…
Questionable? Thoughts crowded his mind, fragments he could not yet assemble into a coherent whole, possibly this boy's memories. But for now, he set them aside and focused on the immediate task, taking a shower.
My goodness… After all that disgusting sticky sweat…
The showerhead released a fine, temperature-stabilized mist, maintaining heat and flow with a surprising precision, a definite upgrade from the system used on Earth.
The tension of the day sluiced away.
But he forgot one crucial detail.
Oh… Shit, I don't have spare clothing…
Fuck.
He poked his head out towards Aveline.
"Aveline. Sorry, do you have any clothes for males, or maybe t-shirts and shorts?"
"You didn't bring any spare clothing?"
"Haha… Sorry. Don't have any. Maybe you ask father for his?"
"Seriously? Nah… Nevermind… No need. Seeing as you're quite skinny, I think you'd fit in mine better."
"Whatever floats the boat. Thanks."
…
I'm gonna die of embarrassment…
It was cute. Her clothes were cute. It was a shirt filled with cats.
And organisms unfamiliar to Isaac.
God… This is awkward.
Isaac sat on a mattress while staring up at Aveline straight in her eye, both expecting the other to say something first.
"..."
"..."
Aveline thought:
God is he skinny… That scar though… How did he get it?
"Let's be honest, Isaac. This is embarrassing as hell for both of us."
"Yeah your right."
"So, I'll be direct."
"?"
"What do you wanna talk about? You lead, and I follow."
'Oh, right! Please gimme the quick rundown of this world, Aveline?'
Fuck no, I ain't asking her some bullshit question like that. Should I, though? It's practical a transmigrator, I would sure~ love a rundown of everything that's going on, but I fucking hated reading/listening to exposition dumps… God, imagine what an exposition dump it would be. I'd fucking fall asleep in front of her.
Hell, I'm not fucking stupid enough to be a shitty transmigrator. Imagine how sus it would be to the opposing party if I ask for so much fucking information straight away.
You know what… I'm more curious about her than this world. To solidify our relationship as proper sister and brother, it would be more logical to ask about her and build a good sibling bond first, then slowly ask her about information.
"I guess we just start with basic introductions since we haven't really done that yet. Icebreaker?"
"Sure. I'm Aveline Mun. Aged 16, turning 17. I'm currently studying at Graham's School of Catalysis with goals of contributing to Elenos by later taking a degree in Thaumitonic Engineering, specifically specializing in marine engineering. If it's possible, I'd also like to join The Agerean Engineering Quadrifediration. Hobbies? I like to read novels and study the marine lifeforms in the Veledonic Sea in my past time. Nice to meet you."
Wow. Shit. Straightforward.
She's attending Graham, too.
It was compared to, if not said better than, EINA for young Alchemical Geniuses who wanted to pursue engineering. Was it ever visitable in the game? Could I have seen Aveline as a student? Well… Doesn't matter. The reputation and privileges may not be as good as EINA's, but she's a super duper smartass to get into the school.
…
Also… what the FUCK is Catalysis?!
Damn, fuck me, man… More name complications. Logically, catalysis is the process of speeding up chemical reactions, so I can assume it is the equivalent of Alchemy in this world.
To note: Catalysis = Alchemy,
and most likely Thaumitons = Mana.
She called Magic Engineering = Thaumic Engineering. Interesting… Based on my theory, the new name for Mana sounds more like it's a particle rather than a magical source of energy that behaves like a liquid, as always seen in those fictional media.
I swear to god that Mana was quite generic in EAA.
So… Could it be said… That, what I'll call it simply, New EAA has turned Mana → Particle?
If that's true, then a separate foundation of science would arise in the world. Perhaps it would be called Thaumitonic Mechanics? And that could explain why everything is so much more complex in this world.
Because humans have quantized the concepts of Magic?
…
What a theory… I'll find out much more when I actually attend EINA.
"Uh… Sorry, just to get this straight, you're trying to join the Agerean Engineering Trifederation, right?"
"Quadri."
"Quadrifederation? Oh, shit, my bad."
Hmm… There's a fourth party aside from the 3 Major Kingdoms. Could it be the Esoteric Kabbalist? I mean, alchemy is a big part of Esotericism… Or maybe the Cultivators? I mean, they need their 1000-year-old Ginseng refinement pills after all.
Hah… So many DLCs.
"Nevermind… I'm Isaac Wo一 Mun, now, 17? I think? I'll get a DNA Methylation Age test one day to figure out. I will be studying at Elenos' Institute of Noësical Academics with goals of improving Noësical theorie一."
"HAH???!!! Say that again??? I call bullshit. You're going to attend THE EINA?!"
Bro… It's not that big of a deal, jeez. Everyone freaks the fuck out when I bring it up.
"Yeah. Cohort 2409. Wassup with it?"
Aveline looks at him, perplexed. She stared at the person who didn't understand the reputation that even associating his name with EINA would warrant him.
"Are you deadass? You're not lying?"
Oh! Gen-Z Slang! Wonderful. I can get along with her much better if we speak the same bullshit language.
"Nah. I wouldn't joke about it either."
"Eyyy… Sketchy sia. You're seriously attending THE Elenos' Institute of Noësical Academics?"
"Bro, don't hype it up that much. You're attending THE Graham's School of Catalysis as well. You know how hard it is even to get into the waiting list? You're damn impressive yourself, yk."
"Dude… But like the difference???"
Isaac reaches for his old clothing and pulls out the Student ID Card for show.
"..."
"Nevermind, that's crazy though. Sorry, I interrupted. Continue."
Good.
Very productive bonding time.
"As I was saying, I just wanna improve Noësical Theory by later becoming a Wave Bind—"
"Oh, btw, what's up with your age?"
Motherfucker! Stop interrupting me!
"What's up with it?"
"Fuck you mean what's up with it? How do you not know your own age?"
"Oh. That," Isaac throws an asspull. "Typical background story, you know? Parents abandoned me, didn't tell me my name or birthday. Survived by myself for what should be 17 years."
"Oh… Oh my… Sorry, I asked, Isaac…" Aveline was successfully guilt-tripped by Isaac's ass pull.
Whoops~
"Don't worry about it. As I was saying: I just wanna improve Noësical Theory by becoming a Wave Binder if not a physicist. But lowkey, I'm also interested in the Law of Agerea, so I might also go for a Law Degree as a backup. We'll see, honestly, I gotta consider you一 Our parents' wishes as well."
"Isaac… Don't worry, dude. They're fine with anything. Plus, they make more than enough money for my tuition fees. You just do whatever you want. After hearing your life up till now, even I wanna give you some money too."
"That's super sweet, Aveline. Thanks. But... I won't be a dent to your parents whatsoever, you can keep enjoying their undivivded her finance, hehe. I'm on a full scholarship, either was, nor will I ask for an allow一."
"HAH??? SCHOLARSHIP???"
DAMN! YOU REALLY LIKE CUTTING ME OFF, HUH?
WEREN'T YOU GUILTY TRIPPED BY MY 'SOB BACKSTORY'???
STOP CUTTING OFF AN ORPHAN!
"Did I not mention th一?"
Bro…
"That's crazy… What the hell? What kind of mathematical Genius are YOU to be given a scholarship? Let alone a full one. Holy shit."
"I'm just really good at science, I guess?"
"Don't fuck around. I know you have some really crazy thesis papers then."
"I really don't though…"
"???" As obviously seen, Aveline was perplexed. "Okay, wait, not to be offensive, but can I ask you a question. I just really wanna test you. Simple but tricky, I promise."
???
"Okay, sure, go ahead."
"I think, as a base, this should be answerable by the standard of the average EINA student. You said your strong suit was science, right? You want to be a physicist, so your physics must be top-notch."
"Mhm."
"So… A closed weather balloon with an initial volume V rises in the atmosphere to a point where the outside air pressure is 1/10 of the pressure at the surface, and the temperature of the air has dropped by a factor of 3. Assume that the balloon is filled with an ideal gas and that the material of the balloon exerts no pressure and does not insulate, so that the temperature and pressure are the same inside and outside the balloon. Does the volume of the gas increase, decrease, or stay the same as the balloon rises? Justify your answer."
A depiction of Chibi Isaac's bleeding ears could be made. Of course, it was metaphorical. But he really felt like his ears were about to burst.
WOW, holy yap.
How the fuck does a 16-year-old girl think of this shit at a go?
And also…
Are we serious again?
Why are you ripping off an MIT question paper? I swear to God I was deadass doing this question to refresh my knowledge for my test before I died…
Wait…
I was doing that question before I died.
Huh… Parallels… Interesting… No matter how out of the blue it sounds.
What if there is an entity similar to the Ritualist God that is affecting the progress of the world right now? So much so to the point where they gave me a question that I'm familiar with…
Of all things to first think of when encountering an issue like this, I'm really fucking brainrotted from all the novels I've recently read… But still… There's no way a coincidence like this just happens out of the fucking blue…
Hmmm… That implies that there's someone out there with equivalent authority as the author of EAA's plot…
To purposely defy this entity… To try my luck and purposely go against a God…
I should troll him ngl.
Fuck you for sending me to a new world, bum. Sure, I fucking hate studying, but you didn't have to kill me cuz I was just a tad bit lazy. You want me to get this question right, right? So that you get to flex the genius of your transmigrated human, right?
Screw him. Why not I troll abit? I got free will. Who's gonna stop me?
Hehehe… The answer is simple, really.
Ideal Gas Law = P·V = N·k·T
Therefore
Vₙₑw = (N·k·Tₙₑw) / Pₙₑw
Vₙₑw = (N·k·(T/3)) / (P/10)
Vₙₑw = (10/3)·(N·k·T / P)
Vₙₑw = (10/3)·V
Simple. Easy. The Volume Increases, duh.
But…
"Using the Ideal Gas Law's formula, and substituting all the digits, the volume barely changes as the weather balloon doesn't expand that much."
"Hoh… Damn. I usually get my friends with that one dude, what the hell?"
Huh?
"Yeah, no wonder you got that scholarship, nice job, Isaac. You factored altitude changes and didn't assume the weather balloon was constantly at altitudinal energies."
Excuse me?
???
I mean. I guess so?
My answer, by the definition of classical physics, is wrong, 100%. I'm so sure the V increases. Hello? The mark scheme said so! So, how is that false answer I gave correct?
No way she's just dumb, right?
From what I've seen, this world is much more intelligent than Earth. AND. Aveline stated she gave this question to her friends, and I'm one of the only ones who got the trick.
Huh… Trick… Trick Room?
Perhaps I didn't consider what she called 'Altitudinal energy'.
Could it be Magic adding a layer onto physics?
Hmmm… Cool.
But it's really not fucking cool how the world bent to my answer…
Was my choice of defying a God a part of its vision?
Can I not stray away from a predetermined fate set by a higher being, perhaps?
Hmm… That's annoying… What if—
"So I'm assuming your hobbies are also related to your passion then?"
Aveline cut off Isaac's chain of thought. It was perplexing, though. An answer purposely set up by, what Isaac thinks, a higher entity, was correct, although he gave a false answer. It's true that by the definitions of Earthly Physics, but was the world he resides in currently Earth?
Simple: No.
Isaac… Forgot to consider… something he couldn't have possibly known at the time.
"U-uh… Yea… As for hobbies, I love reading novels too, gimme some recommendations lowkey, I need something to read in the dorms. And, other than that, maybe martial arts?"
Her eyes practically light up at the mention of novels. Isaac and Aveline were really meant to be each other's siblings.
"For real? What's your favourite genre?"
Tsk… SCREW! Physics for now… I GENUINELY canNOT focus with all her bloody blabbering.
And yeah? What genres would be popular here?
What fucking novels do you read in your world when fantasy, high fantasy, and, hell, fucking sci-fi with all this quantum tech would be just your average day here, bro? Science fiction for what? You guys got quantum chips in your passports, man.
"Ehhh. I would usually go for high-fantasy or realistic stories."
"Oh. Nice taste. I'd personally go for romance and maybe some syndicate or mafia stories? I find it interesting to see into the lives of people who commit crimes and their psychology. It's not like I also don't read what you just said, it's just that, they're not really my taste, yk?"
Oh God, she's… THAT type of girl…
I mean, what can I fucking expect?
She's only a teen… Of course, she's interested in THAT kind of book.
God, I better be a good fucking role model. I swear if she turns out like those bums on BookTok…
"Yeah…That's fair enough. Got any books I can borrow to bring to the dorms?"
"Ah, sure."
They both get up. The new step-siblings smiling.
"Here are some books. These are the… Uhhhh. Not so great stories. This one in particular is quite the slop of a story. It's popular, though, I don't really get why. Truthfully, I can't bring myself to finish this story. I usually just larp it. Still, tell me if you like them when you get back."
Oh my god, she even larps… I can imagine her giving a mafia CEO from a book she glazes 10/10 complexity and calling those she hates a conclusion merchant.
What a fucking MediaTok drone.
Anywyas…
Reincarnated into the Finale.
The Day of Damnation.
A Glorious Rampage.
All of them look decent, but she said the first one was slop.
I'll just go down in descending reading order.
So this generic-sounding story is gonna be first.
"Thank you, Aveline."
"No problem. Ask me if you need any novels. I got a lot."
She puffs her chest out, looking proud like a fiction connoisseur.
Isaac didn't mind that. In fact, it only deepened their bond.
"Yeah… I can tell…"
She really did have a large bookshelf.
"Well. It's getting quite late, Aveline. I got a lot of stuff to do tomorrow, so Imma head to bed first, ya?"
"Okay. Goodnight, Isaac."
Isaac heads to his mattress first as Aveline prepares for her shower.
Yet, he was distracted by the temperature of the room.
The room is surprisingly cold without air con… Actually, it's super cold for a room.
It's not cuz I'm skinny, but it's genuinely cold.
I do hear the blow of one somewhere.
Hmmm… What the he—
Oh…
Isaac's eyes caught something odd: micro vents lined along the walls of Aveline's room. At first glance, they seemed like faint, invisible seams in the plaster, but on closer inspection, they were patterned with a strange structure, a geometry that didn't belong to the ordinary construction of Earth.
He placed his hand on one and felt cool air pouring out.
Ah~ I see now.
Isaac deduces the structure of the entire house based on this small fact.
No wonder I was hearing the noise of an air conditioner. These ultra-thin surfaces shape the air that poured from the extra space above that most likely contained a cooling/heating system, the way a lens shapes light.
Instead of noisy fans, these vents bent and focused airflow laminarly, with any heat radiating off the walls redirected outward to the hallway and environment, leaving the air cooler.
By definition, this would only be possible by a civil engineer that have precisely studied thermodynamics and has an extremely solid nano-material technology.
To a layperson, this information would be quite the breather. After all, being reincarnated into a world without air conditioning would be uncomfortable beyond belief. But to Isaac, this minute detail that he found was something a bit more unnerving.
That means that the technology of New EAA did not match that of EAA's, as also proven by the passport and toilet. I am 100% sure nobody was tampering with nano-materials and thermodynamic engineering to a level where air cons and quality of life have been improved via nanophysics.
In fact, why is everything so advanced in this world? Everything is a near improvement of what was originally in EAA and on Earth.
The passport, the GPA system, the housing, the shower, the aircon, etc.
It's weird if I think about it. EVERYTHING is better. Like this world is full of inventors.
Is the subsection of Magical Science THAT complex to the point where Earth's Quantum Mechanics I studied SOOOO fucking hard for…
Is nothing but a way to improve everyday life?
Wow~ I see how it is—
"Oh. You're still awake, Isaac."
How does one think about science for 20 minutes?
Ask Isaac.
"Yeah, couldn't slee一."
They meet eye to eye with Aveline in a towel as she dries her hair. Isaac pondered it. She really was quite beautiful, with long black hair and a sharp, sculpted face with a body to match.
Now, Isaac remained calm. It's more embarrassing to act out at such a sight than it is to look her straight in the eyes.
Tsk.
Yeah great.
Ugh…
The fucking weird romance aspect of EAA is acting up.
Ew. EWWW. FUCK NO!
"Do you need any clothes since I'm closer to the wardrobe?"
"Ah, yeah. Just a T-Shirt and shorts."
Isaac chucks it to her before getting into his mattress.
"I'll actually sleep now. My bad."
"All good. Goodnight."
The possibility of an incest ending in MY story disgusts me to my core.
The End of My Story will converge on my full understanding of this world's science.
All the shit above has already intrigued, and fuck, PISSED me off so much more than I initially was.
I. Will. Learn. Everything.