Quantum Cultivation by Jace Kang (simple e reader TXT) 📕

off to join Siena, and they proceeded to engage in another romp in the grass.

By now, both Aya and Kentaro had learned to ignore the amorous couple; whereas it used to make Aya feel jealous, the same envy for the Elestrae didn’t churn in her gut anymore. They continued their Iron Shirt practice, and the Elestrae’s invisibility cloak kept them hidden from the passing Peacekeepers and military aircraft.

By the time the sun set, her and Kentaro’s sweat stank.

Returning from his supposed pair Cultivation with Siena, Ryusuke waved his hand in front of his nose. “Good, you are expelling toxins from your body. As always, Ken-kun has flushed more out.  If you keep doing this, you will be more open to the reconstruction of your skin structure if we can find the right food and herbs.”

Again, Aya was lagging behind Kentaro.

“Go ahead and rest now,” Ryusuke said, then gestured Aya to the side. “I want to ask a favor.”

Her heart soared. “What can I do for you?”

“I need to complete my mission soon.  I know you’re hesitant to hack into the Peacekeeper headquarters remotely, but could you at least probe around? Find out more about my pills.”

Aya shuddered. “I—”

Siena appeared over his shoulder, with a tablet in hand. “I’ve downloaded some updated research that my team has done into your pills. We are very fascinated by the pills’ energy signature.”

The tablet flashed, and its projector displayed the image of two chemical compound structures side by side.

“See this?” She pointed. “This was the red pill. Its chemical bonds are identical to starfighter power cores, but much denser.”

Aya studied the two diagrams. Indeed, the pill had a hundred times the amount of bonds in the same amount of space.

“But that’s not all,” Siena said. “The molecules vibrate with a resonance that doesn’t belong to this universe.”

“Probably because it belongs to mine,” Ryusuke said.

“It could prove to be an alternative to istrium.” Siena’s voice rose with excitement. “It could end twenty thousand years of war with the Tivari.”

Aya gasped. “What does the red pill do?”

Ryusuke shuffled on his feet. “It will give me the power to close the portals, leaving only a handful open to anyone who has Advanced to at least First Rank in all five paths.”

How fascinating it would be to enter the World of Rivers and Lakes! It would be even more alien than the EtherCloud. Still… “How did you first enter, then?”

Ryusuke grinned. “I had Advanced to First Rank in all five Paths.”

“In this world?”

He nodded. “It’s a very long story, but the gist is that there have been a handful of high-ranked masters who left the World of Rivers and Lakes, and decided to remain here.”

“You found one?” Aya asked.

Ryusuke waved off her question. “Could you see if you can find out about my pills?”

Aya nodded. Maybe he’d answer her question later. While he headed off to check on Kentaro, Siena sat down across from her.

Ignoring the Elestrae, Aya jacked into the EtherCloud and stepped into her own EtherSpace. She’d had Ai monitor unencrypted chatter from regular citizens, as well as low-security messages coming to and from Peacekeeper Headquarters.

She looked first at the chatter.  Hundreds of people had commented about having seen the press conference. Knowing that the government monitored communications, most had only left messages expressing concerns about the attacks, or sympathy for the victims. The general sentiment, though, was that the government wasn’t doing enough to ensure public safety.

Embedded within one of the messages, discernable only through a cipher program, was a hidden connection. The set of coordinates, changed hourly, took her to a hidden, rotating EtherSpace where hackers met.

The clean lines of the EtherSpace weren’t exactly like that of the Purebred coffee shop she’d visited with Kentaro and Siena, but they shared the same simple aesthetic. While research had shown that the former could be described as Scandinavian modern, this fell in the category of mid-century modern.  What century, it was impossible to tell, and neither could be considered modern.

Leaning back in a white chair with sleek curves and a cushion, booted feet up on a white table with matching design, was Slash. Whether he really had frizzy black hair in real life, or if he was really a he, was impossible to know.

“Heya, Zip,” he said, using her hacker moniker. He tipped his black hat and lowered his dark sunglasses as he looked at her. No doubt he’d programmed his SI to make the EtherCloud look like the so-called Heavy Metal era of Earth, where humanity had heavily polluted the water, earth, and air with heavy metals.

“Zip!” Another man in a checkered pink shirt beneath a striped black blazer waved from a plush green sofa. As host, Slick’s ancient fashion mirrored the décor.

Like her, these two had taken extreme measures to maintain their anonymity. The rotating ServerSpaces were always hiding in plain sight in the EtherSpaces of mundane entities.  And they, along with the sixty-some hackers who glided through the EtherCloud through advanced SIs, knew how hide their trails.

“Good morning, honorable sirs.” She bowed in the fashion of the ancient Japanese, intentionally using morning so as not to give away her time zone. “Is anyone following the attacks in Kyoto?”

“Of course,” Slash said, mimicking the playing of a guitar.

“Hard to find any real information, though.” Slick combed his hair back. “Government is hiding shit. Peacekeeper EtherSpaces might not be on lockdown anymore, but they’re on high alert. I’m not going to risk myself with those Level Nine Sentinels.”

Slash tipped his hat again. “I have a code shell that can get an Avatar by the Sentinels once.”

Aya and Slick both stared at him.

“How does it work?” she asked.

“It uses the biometrics of a real person with access to the system. Problem is, there are only two layers