Chapter 8:

On the paper — which had now turned yellow, signifying in practice that it was his assignment — an enormous number of letters took shape, as if printed at random. But after waiting just a moment, the letters formed into text:

"Only by losing everything will you be free — so why am I imprisoned?"

/Conditions of Appearance/

• The stronger the smell of another's pain, the more it wants to devour happiness.

/Danger Level/

• Moderate.

/Capture Conditions/

• Difficult.

/Abilities/

• There Are Many of Me: creates clones with the same parameters as the original.

|Rule|: the user's clones are the user themselves.

• Skip: skips distance, arriving directly at the target.

|Rule|: the user must know where they need to go.

• Where I Am Not: has the right to interfere in others' dreams.

|Rule|: control of the dream is exercised through willpower. If the user's willpower is less than the victim's — they lose the right to interfere.

/Unique Restrictions/

• If the user demands to play — refusal is impossible. Only active children's games suitable for kindergarteners may be played.

• While a game is in progress, the user may non-critically distort perception.

• In the event of victory, the winning side may present one wish to the losing side. The wish must be fulfillable by the losing side.

Having read the contents of the paper, the scientist clicked his tongue with a frown — his lips muttering:

— Tch, she shouldn't have appeared this early.

— Did you say something?

— You imagined it.

If there is justice in this world — for exactly what transgressions had he been paired with this hysteric? Muttering to himself, then getting angry at being caught doing it. Zeta felt that kindergarteners weren't found only in the anomaly's file. The scientist standing before him matched the temperament of a kindergartener quite well — the only differences being height and age. But who would listen to Zeta? Certainly not his superiors. So he would have to endure again. Never mind — he'd endure now, and then endure even more after that. Because he was simply a security guard, and striking his charge with a rifle butt — though deeply satisfying — was a criminal offence. It would also result in termination. Such is the hard life of a working man like Zeta.

But one way or another, he'd have to escort him to headquarters.

...

..

.

How often do corpses appear in the world because of anomalies? Quite often, actually — but remarkably, even so, current birth rates exceed death rates. Some analysts at the bureau even considered that anomalies were a decent method of controlling an excessively expanding human population.

Of course, they thought so as long as it didn't concern themselves. Typical bureaucrats. But in reality, anomalies brought more benefit than harm. Although the majority of anomalies amounted to nothing more than aggressive phenomena directed at causing harm — a certain portion of them either posed a suppressed threat, or no threat at all.

But all of that was distant business. Right now Zeta had more grounded concerns — his own unsuppressed rage, which he urgently needed to vent on someone. Unfortunately, that required a reason...

What if he made some trainee scientist answer a sufficiently difficult question — and after their failure, in the name of "maintaining discipline," unleashed all his accumulated fury on them?

What a marvellous plan! Right now he'd walk up to some simpleton and get full satisfaction for his terrible day.

— You.

His gaze darted to the pager with the name on it — but upon realising his own rank was higher than the scientist's, he decided, for the sake of extra humiliation, to simply use "you" rather than addressing them by name.

— What is an anomaly?

Zeta already sensed how this trainee would stumble and produce some superficially correct answer he could pick apart.

— Anomalies are not something supernatural. Of course, they may be able to ignore certain laws of physics and common sense — but this doesn't stop them from obeying their own rules. Current human development obviously doesn't allow us to determine exactly what principle underlies their capacity to distort reality — but it does allow us to calculate the conditions of their activity and their surface-level abilities.

Ah, right — Zeta hadn't thought about the possibility of playing it clever and answering with maximally generalised information. No matter — he would certainly catch this trainee out.

— Then what use are these incomprehensible creatures with their stupid rules to us?

— The primary benefit of anomalies comes down to their energy. Precisely because anomalies themselves obey laws that humans have simply not yet been able to calculate — they emit a certain energy which in turn can accumulate in the external environment or in living organisms nearby. This energy surpasses nuclear energy by a factor of seven — which is remarkable, but obviously its true value doesn't stop there. As mentioned, this energy has the property of accumulating not only in the surrounding environment, but also in living organisms. However, if it accumulates specifically in living organisms — a series of highly desirable things will occur, the degree of desirability depending on the amount of energy accumulated. For classification purposes, it was decided to divide the amount of accumulating energy into five levels, where 5 is the most desirable and powerful, and 0 is the most ambiguous and weakest.

— And what exactly is desirable about accumulating this energy?

— Superpowers. The reasons behind which particular abilities become attached to a person have not yet been calculated, but the most popular theory is the theory of true nature: in brief — the theory holds that an ability reflects the essence of its user. The more energy there is — the more powerful the ability becomes and the better the user employs it. Experience also matters, but energy accumulation improves brain function as well, which allows one to independently work out the optimal use of one's own power — so experience is considered less important than the sheer quantity of energy.

— So what exactly do the levels mean?

— Beyond the quantity of energy itself — they also indicate the stage of ability development.

— The level classification!

— Of course. 0 is an ambiguous level because at this stage there is insufficient energy in a person's body to produce a personal superpower. However, there is enough to improve physical parameters — raising them to the peak of human capability. A sensitivity to energy itself also appears: meaning the person begins to sense its presence nearby. But that's all.

1 grants the user their own superpower. The user naturally understands how to use it — like understanding how to breathe. An ability at this level cannot be excessively powerful and generally falls short of ordinary firearms, and the duration of its use is typically short and highly draining.

2 — the ability begins to require less stamina, allowing it to be used somewhat more frequently. The power remains the same, however physical characteristics begin to surpass those of a normal human.

3 — the ability becomes significantly more powerful, and its manifestations no longer have limitations. However, at this stage a "condition" may appear which will greatly increase output power — but will subject the user to a rule they will not be able to and will not be capable of breaking.

4 — energy perception improves, allowing it to be used as a geolocation system with target detection. However, if a target has more energy than the user — they will not only be detected, but also tracked. The user's brain also naturally understands how to correctly employ their own ability, allowing them to handle the majority of situations.

5 — the condition becomes more stringent, but the limits on development are lifted, and the ability may gain a branch — that is, a sub-ability conceptually linked to the original.

Zeta was finally and completely furious. The current generation was too clever and provided far too much introductory information. As if Zeta were the trainee here and needed to know the most basic information about anomalies! Tch, tch, tch. Zeta didn't even have the mood now to harass subordinates — he'd just go and get drunk. What else was left for him in this cruel world?