After Borya finished his long story, Kyon nodded:

«Thank you for the helpful information.»

«Oh, never mind. One good turn deserves another.» - Borya made a witty remark: - «Anyway, it’s as dull as ditchwater here.» - He yawned widely.

«Could you tell me anything about the phases of development?» - Kyon had a general idea from the book, but the information was insufficient.

«Sorry, buddy. I'm not really an expert in this matter. You’d better ask Byron. I heard his brother is kind of an earth bender, but they don't get along too well.»

{So it wasn't a fantasy novel! Wow... Magic?} - Kyon took a deep breath.

«I see. By the way, how did you get here?»

Borya was a peasant from the 15th group. He was a contractor and provided for his family. No prizes for guessing how poor they were.

Time was dragging minute after minute, growing into hours. Martha attended to the patients. The bald guy kept ogling her with a lecherous grin. He hadn't seen a beautiful woman for quite a while.

The night had come. Lighting crystals flashed all together and grew dim, giving off a faint dull light.

Martha did the last examination for the day, wished Kyon goodnight and left.

The boy mused, staring at the barely visible ceiling.

{First of all, I need to buy some information at the weekly market stall. It must be here soon. Where do I come from? How did I get here? What is the price of freedom? The more you know, the more you can control.}

His eyelids drooped. He saw an immense gray space in front of him, but the only thing that drew his attention was a bright azure ball. It was beckoning. It grew bigger and bigger until he got inside, and it swallowed him up.

*dream*

The door creaked open, Martha entered the hospital, dragging a sack. She threw it into her office, locked the door and left again.

It was early morning. Kyon was lying in his bed, blinking sleepily at the lamp that was getting brighter and brighter.

{Damn it! I woke up at this ungodly hour because of a creak…}

However, there was no reason to get peeved. He had other things on his mind. According to his recent experience, the memories of his previous life would flow into his head in a rapid stream as soon as he started to think of his dream. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling... But there was no point in waiting for the others to wake up, either.

Kyon focused, and his memories whirled in his brain like a wild hurricane. He broke out in an icy sweat, his hands shaking. The world outside blurred, merging into a pale smudge. Kyon didn’t waste a minute. He started sorting out the information available to him, day after day, since the age of 4 until he was 8 years and a half. This time the process went more natural and productive than before. It took only 10 minutes at all.

{Amazing! It’s just incredible!} - Kyon was thrilled. His eyes sparkled with excitement or maybe tears suddenly rising behind his lids. He had finally remembered enough of his past to understand himself. - {This world is just what I need! It’s like I’ve been given a real task I longed for so long! I used to live in a meritocratic society, but in this world, the strongest hold the reins of power. I will play an away game by their rules, and I will definitely reach the top! Fascinating... Interesting... Cool!}

When he passed the test, his adopted father sent him to the best school in their civilization, where he stayed until he was eight and a half.

This school was on a remote planet, it took only a couple of minutes to get there. His dad only had to activate the tunnel in the basement. One step, and there they are. The technology was awesome there!

School, or those representing it, recruited students with extra abilities all over the universe. The selection criterion was a predisposition to control the information field, aka the energy of the azure color. It was an innate, unique gift. Less than 1% of all people were lucky to have it. No technology could reproduce this type of energy. It was light as air, fluid like water, and submissive to its owner like a docile pet.

The scientists had long proved that the world, its interactions and its laws were based on the information exchange. This type of energy enabled its owners to connect with the universe and change it. In other words, they could code reality at the level of its source.

This energy was called “Synergy”, short for “sea blue energy.”

Synergy improved human susceptibility to any information by a wide margin, increased reaction, body control, boosted any mental activity. It made the speed of thinking equal to the most powerful quantum computers. It had numerous uses, not necessarily associated with intellectual ability. It was the core, the very essence of the universe.

Like anything else, Synergy could be cultivated.

If you want to get stronger, you should lift weights. If you are into athletics, then exhausting training sessions is what you need. The brain could be trained through constant reading, memory boosting and thinking. This rule is absolute, and Synergy development is no exception.

Scientists had identified six degrees of Synergy development and a legendary one. It had never been found in real life, but theoretically might exist. The owner of the legendary degree was a god with unlimited talents, to the extent of changing the laws of physics.

1) Newbie. 2) Student. 3) Bachelor. 4) Master. 5) Doctor of Philosophy. 6) Doctor of Science. 7) The legendary supreme mandate. It’s the classification of Synergy development, generally accepted and approved.

The transition to a new degree is marked by a pop, a feeling like an elastic band bursts. The mental energy boosts, Synergy quality improves, new boons get available, new dimensions open up.

It takes years of practice to pass to the next degree. It takes more effort with each next degree, especially at an older age.

There are various tests, tasks, quests, combinatorial calculus, training sessions... The tasks get harder and harder with each next degree.

Only 1% of people have Synergy. Only 1 in 10 million can get a Master’s degree. One in 10 billion can reach the Doctor of Philosophy. A single individual in all history of humankind had managed to become a Doctor of Sciences, and even though all humanity pinned high hopes on him, he disappeared in the endless expeditions in search of Truth.

The owners of the highest degrees of Synergy rule the world and lead it in the right direction, but even if they can prolong life endlessly, it gets more challenging to achieve the next degree. This phenomenon is an incomprehensible mystery. Apparently, eternal life is still beyond the control of the living generations.

Lovr, aka Kyon, had no problem getting into the school. His test results shocked everyone. The little boy happened to have reached the peak level of the second degree! He had reached the Student’s degree at the age of 4. It was like seeing a Phoenix in the sky. After some discussion, the school masters came to the general opinion: the boy needed one-to-one instruction because his potential was endless.

At the age of 8 years and a half, he was at the beginning of the third degree, and his excessive development continued almost to the Master’s degree. It was an unprecedented result to become a Master at such an early age....

School taught him to get rid of shackles like shame, uncertainty, complexes, bad habits, all kinds of beliefs, and prejudices.

The masters also did their best to prepare the boy for the supreme mandate. In fact, their task was to bring up the future god. He had to be a well-mannered god! They stubbornly instilled in him the best human qualities to tell the good from the bad, understand human nature and the essence of progress, see things that were beyond an average person.

It didn’t mean they intended to create a cold-blooded rational machine, far from it. The masters strived to reveal the essence of things, develop his ambitions, as well as a desire to succeed and move forward. They did an excellent job in the end.

Lovr was an emotional, passionate young man who tended to act impulsively, do unreasonable things just to please his ego. Apparently, the universe fancied his type and gave him the highest talent potential for Synergy development. Thus, Lovr had combined two incompatible things: his heart was hot and his mind, ruled by Synergy, was cold. Simply put, he had a supercomputer in his head that didn’t affect the owner’s character. Sometimes, he was impulsive and reckless. Other times, he turned into a dispassionate rationalist, especially when the goal was clear. His masters couldn’t be more pleased with his success. However, there soon arose a significant problem. At such a fast rate of development, the boy could soon overgrow his tutors. The future of the hypothetical “god” was vague without any worthy rivals and the right conditions.

{I wonder what degree I had at the end of my life...} – Kyon desperately wanted to know everything. Unfortunately, at the moment, his memories were limited by the age of 8.

{Something is wrong. There’s something I'm missing…}