Becoming A Tech Tycoon Begins With Regression

Chapter 236 236: Tech Tier 5: Quantum Manipulation

"System," Ethan called out with a grin on his face.

[Yes host?] The system answered.

"Shouldn't the rewards for that quest?" He asked.

The quest he was referring to was [The World Network] which he had just completed.

It had been a few weeks since the summit and since he gained control of various world leaders.

Ethan hadn't slowed down a bit after that progression. OmniTech Corp had established subsidiaries all over the world and each had started operating within different fields.

In just those three weeks, OmniTech Corp had gone from the fastest growing company to one of the biggest.

And with the establishment of his final subsidiary in South America, the system had alerted that the quest was complete.

[I suggest the host finds a comfortable place before the rewards are issued,] the system said.

That wouldn't be too hard, since he was back in his apartment. Ethan just moved towards his lab, lay on a bed he had set up and relaxed.

The moment he did,

[Congratulations on completing the quest The World Network. Due to the host surpassing the quest parameters, bonus rewards has been issued.]

[Rewards: The Tech Development Interface's fourth module, Reality Transposition Module (RTM), has been unlocked.]

[Bonus Rewards: +20% global influence, +10% system version, +10% to all knowledge and profeciency.]

[Congratulations, the host has successfully reached tech tier 5.

Skill: Quantum manipulation has successfully been unlocked.]

Well, that was a lot.

Ethan expected a bit of pain when the system said he was supposed to get comfortable, but right now, he felt none.

"Open the RTM description," he ignored the fact that he was at tech tier 5 for now.

[RTM: TDI's 4th module allows simulated technology from the Simulation Chamber to be materialized into the real world.]

So in other words, he would now be able to create tech from nothing? Wasn't that basically just magic?

Well, except the matter was being teleported from somewhere, it basically was magic....or maybe just science that eluded his understanding...for now.

Now was the time to address the elephant in the room... system's interface?

[Quantum manipulation: this grants the host direct interaction with reality at the probabilistic level.

Rather than altering matter or energy after it exists, the host can observe, influence, and collapse quantum probability states, determining which version of reality becomes real.

N.B: the host can only influence a small area for now.]

This forced Ethan to sit up straight as he read the description over and over again.

He let out a slow breath before asking again, "System, define 'small area.'"

[Current effective influence radius: approximately three meters. Precision decreases exponentially beyond that range.]

Three meters.

In other words, everything within that radius has multiple possible states and he was the one who would decide which state becomes a relatively.

It was like Schrödinger cat experiment, but instead of a mere observer and measurer, Ethan would be the one to decide the state of the cat, regardless of the unobserved reality.

If he hadn't locked all his shock and excitement in a single mind, he wouldn't know whether to grin or have a surprised look on his face right now.

Ethan hopped off the bed, walked towards a corner of his lab and looked at a bolt that lay on the table.

According to its observed reality, it was a metal bolt because of the arrangement of its atoms.

But what if its atoms had remained unobserved and unmeasured?

At the quantum level, that bolt was nothing more than a cloud of probabilities, electrons that were nowhere and everywhere, it's positions and state only became fixed because reality agreed they should be.

Ethan focused on the bolt, and a second later, he was aware of every bit of atom and its state in a three meter radius.

Every single thing now felt like a multitude of possibilities waiting to be assigned a reality by him.

"Let's start small," he muttered.

He chose a single variable.

Not the bolt's shape, not its composition.

Just one outcome among countless microscopic possibilities.

The probability that the bolt would remain perfectly still.

And then he nudged it.

There was no visible effect, but Ethan saw it, the bolt had changed position by a few centimeters without any visible external influence.

Ethan had just made one of the countless quantum realities come true.

Now normally, for him to be able to process these realities, he had to be thinking at inhumane speeds fortunately for him, that knowledge upgrade had come in handy...again.

But he wasn't satisfied with the tests just yet, this time he wanted to try something a lot more visible, the bolt's temperature.

Metal atoms were always vibrating. Heat was just probability favoring higher energy states.

So what would happen if he collapsed those probabilities in the opposite direction?

The moment he confirmed that reality, frost started blooming on the metallic surface.To confirm what he was actually seeing, Ethan glanced toward the thermal display mounted on the wall.

The numbers plunged.

Room temperature dropped sharply within a localized pocket, centered precisely on the bolt. The surrounding air remained unchanged, no condensation, no airflow, no shockwave.

Satisfied with the results, Ethan reversed the probability to its previous reality and the frost receded almost instantly, sublimating into nothing as the bolt returned to equilibrium.

The temperature readings corrected themselves a second later.

If he could affect, position and temperature, what other property could he affect? And did quantum manipulation only work on inanimate objects?

His questions soon turned to Curiosity.

"If position and temperature are just probabilities," he murmured, "then so are charge, spin, phase alignment…"

His eyes drifted toward a power conduit running along the wall, a thin cable feeding energy to half the lab.

"Let's see."

He extended his awareness again.

Instantly, the world fractured into branching possibilities. Electrons flowed and didn't flow, resistance existed and didn't.

Conductivity fluctuated between values that reality normally averaged out.

Ethan chose.

The probability that electrons within a small section of the cable would align into a near frictionless flow.

The lights flickered.

Then steadied again.

The conduit began humming softly, its temperature dropping despite the increased load.

The system monitors flashed warnings before recalibrating, unable to reconcile the readings.

Ethan released the effect, and the hum vanished. The cable returned to normal, heat blooming back as inefficiency reasserted itself.

This result got a chuckle out of him.

"So conductivity, too," he said quietly.

That alone was terrifying.

Superconductors without cooling. Perfect circuits without exotic materials. Power losses reduced to zero within his influence radius.

With this he could perfect the one thing he hadn't,

His infinite energy orbs.